Nutrient Deficiencies that Impact Heart Disease Relapse

Eat a Plant-based Diet to Fulfill Micronutrient Requirements

Absence of good nutritional intake help diseases blossom into the lives of humans without much efforts. Not many individuals in this world die a blissful death without a single instance of pain, presence of diseases, health issues or stress. Each of us were blessed with our life and it is upon us to utilize this life for the better or worse depending on the way we choose to live. Cases of high BP, high blood glucose levels, cholesterol, stroke, obesity and heart disease are everywhere with the rates pretty higher than usual. We can rule out BP as a side effect of stress but what about blood glucose levels, obesity or heart failure? All these diseases generally have an inactive lifestyle as their background for blossoming for which we are clearly aware of the culprit! Life is a one-time plan, but top ups can be of various varieties. Choice of the top-up depends on the individual living it-you can choose to go the healthier way, choose to live life as per your terms and suffer from consequences later or enjoy life as well as focus on health simultaneously-and these top ups determine the course that life will take in the long run.
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Heart Failure
Individuals suffer from heart failure due to various reasons and get treated for it. They are furnished with a post-treatment diet plan to stay healthy without any variations in heart functioning. Well and good if the individual sticks to this plan and lives a healthy life but the consequences can be devastative if the same individual refrains from all such plans and leads life on his/her own terms. There is even a latest study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association that proves that consuming a varied-quality diet could help prevent hospitalization or even death in patients with heart failure.

When a person with heart failure suffers from multiple nutritional deficiencies he/she is at a two-times higher risk of dying or being hospitalized than those who are devoid of any deficiencies or suffer from a minimal number of them. Hair fall, nail color changes or skin tone differences are not the primary effects of nutrient deficiencies but the ones such as diseases and disorders. Alas, mankind is more bothered about going bald or losing skin glow more than taking steps to prevent long-term side effects of decreased nutrients intake. The current study proves the point that nutritional deficiencies go a long way in determining a patient’s risk than what we are currently aware of.

The study suggested 246 heart patients from three different countries to maintain a detailed journal of their daily food and beverage intake continuously for four days. Researchers had a list of 17 micronutrients (11 vitamins, 6 minerals) jotted down and analyzed the patient’s intake of these nutrients from the food diaries. Results showed that 44% patients who suffered from seven or more micronutrient deficiencies were hospitalized or died within the end of year compared to only 25% of patients who suffered from no deficiencies or only a few. Calcium occupied top position in the missing list of micronutrients followed by magnesium, vitamins D and E, zinc and vitamin C.

When Variety Becomes Stressful
None can avoid a wide spread of food items without being tempted to taste and there is also none who dislikes variety. People stick with a particular food group or meal plan owing to various reasons such as lack of time, decreased interest in food due to ageing or circumstantial pressure. The study group found that lack of multiple micronutrients could be the result of eating the same food daily as the study found many patients eating the same food multiple times a day across all the four days. The average age of patients involved in the study was not less than 61 years and their old age was a compelling factor to believe in the concept of ‘decreased desire to consume various foods.’ Moreover, a majority of these patients were overweight/obese disproving the long-standing association between a patient’s weight and nutritional deficiencies. Not even a thin strand of thread connects a person’s BMI with his/her nutritional deficiencies and by all means, it is advisable to stop gauging a person’s nourishment level depending on body stature. Not all overweight people are well-nourished and not all underweight people are starved! Overweight or underweight, get onto your healthy weight range by consulting registered dietitian nutritionists at www.firsteatright.com.

Plant-based foods are usually rich in micronutrients such as fruits and vegetables, legumes, nuts and whole grains. You can elevate micronutrients intake by adding a small portion of fish and dairy products to this plant-based food chart. Put together, what we need is a well-balanced, nutritional meal that never compromises on the quality of the foods we eat.