Category Archives: Blood

September 9, 2022 · 11:56 pm

Is your blood type linked to your risk of stroke before age 60?

Gene variants associated with a person’s blood type may be linked to their risk of early stroke, according to a new meta-analysis published in the August 31, 2022, online issue of Neurology^®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. The meta-analysis included all available data from genetic studies that included young adult ischemic stroke, which is caused by a blockage of blood flow to the brain.

“Non-O blood types have previously been linked to a risk of early stroke, but the findings of our meta-analysis showed a stronger link between these blood types with early stroke compared to late stroke, and in linking risk mostly to blood type A,” said study author Braxton D. Mitchell, PhD, MPH, of University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore. “Specifically, our meta-analysis suggests that gene variants tied to blood types A and O represent nearly all of those genetically linked with early stroke. People with these gene variants may be more likely to develop blood clots, which can lead to stroke.”

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Boosting enzyme may help improve blood flow, fitness in elderly

Herewith the latest development in our battle with Father Time. At 78-years-old, this is the kind of information that keeps me on the edge of my seat.

As people age, their blood-vessel density and blood flow decrease, which is why it’s harder to maintain muscle mass after 40 and endurance in the later decades, even with exercise. This vascular decline is also one of the major causes of age-related diseases, such as frailty or hypertension. However, little is known about the underlying cause or how to stop it.

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Now, in a new study published this week in Cell, a team of researchers from Penn Medicine and other institutions have shown for the first time how a well-studied enzyme called SIRT1 declines in the blood vessels with age and that restoring it reverses the effects of vascular aging. After receiving a supplement called NAD+ precursor nicotinamide mononucleotide (NMN), older mice had the number of capillaries and capillary density found in much younger mice, and improved endurance by up to 80 percent. The collaborative study also involves researchers from Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

“This study tells us that the loss of SIRT1 is a primary reason why our ability to exercise and receive its benefits diminish as we age,” said co-senior author Zoltan Pierre Arany, MD, PhD, an associate professor of Cardiovascular Medicine in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. “We also show that when we bring the enzyme back into the blood vessels, vascular health improves dramatically: The old blood vessel tree [cluster of capillaries] in the older mice is turned into a young vessel tree, one that looks like it’s been exercising for a while, just by turning on this enzyme. That’s the most powerful aspect of the study.” Continue reading →

MCH levels in blood tests: What do they mean? – MNT

I get blood work done at least once a year and confess that I do not know what all the information they get means. Thought this piece from Medical News Today (MNT) might be useful in that regard.

Doctors regularly order blood tests to get an idea of the overall health of their patients.

One of the things they check for is MCH levels.

These levels are regularly used to help diagnose blood disorders but can be difficult to understand. Different MCH levels may cause a variety of symptoms, which will require individual treatments.

What is MCH?

MCH stands for mean corpuscular hemoglobin.

MCH levels refer to the average amount of hemoglobin found in the red blood cells in the body. Hemoglobin is a protein in the blood that allows red blood cells to deliver oxygen to the cells and tissues in the body.

What is a CBC test?

A complete blood count test, or simply CBC test, is designed to give doctors a general overview of a person’s health. The test can help screen people for a variety of issues at once and may help diagnose conditions, such as bleeding disorders, infections, and anemia. Continue reading →

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Filed under Blood, blood cells

Tagged as anemia, Blood, blood cells, hemoglobin, liver, MCH levels, thyroid

May 30, 2017 · 12:05 am

How Trans fats affect the blood – Study

Make sure you are clear on what trans fats actually are. Here is how Wikipedia describes trans fats, “Trans fats, or trans-unsaturated fatty acids, trans fatty acids, are a type of unsaturated fat that occur in small amounts in nature but became widely produced industrially from vegetable fats for use in margarine, snack food, packaged baked goods and frying fast food starting in the 1950s. Trans fat has been shown to consistently be associated, in an intake-dependent way, with increased risk of coronary heart disease, a leading cause of death in Western nations.

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“In 2003 the World Health Organisation recommended that trans fats make up no more than 1% of a person’s diet. In 2013, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a preliminary determination that partially hydrogenated oils (which contain trans fats) are not “generally recognized as safe“, which was expected to lead to a ban on industrially produced trans fats from the American diet.On 16 June 2015, the FDA finalized its determination that trans fats are not generally recognized as safe, and set a three-year time limit for their removal from all processed foods.”

Tohoku University researchers have found that trans-fatty acids promote cell death in a more direct manner than previously thought, leading to the development of atherosclerosis, a major cause of heart attacks and strokes.

Trans-fatty acids are unsaturated fatty acids produced as by-products during food manufacturing. Trans-fatty acid consumption is strongly linked to atherosclerosis, an inflammatory disease in which plaque clogs arteries. Atherosclerosis is a major cause of cardiovascular diseases such as heart attacks and strokes. Continue reading →

On flu shots and blood work

Last Thursday, I posted Tips on fighting the flu. I thought it was a good time for these tips as we are entering flu season. Also, I had an appointment to get my own flu shot on the following day. Please check out that post as there is a lot of good information in it for you relevant to protecting yourself from the flu bugs eating away at your system. Also, Dr. Jonathan, who writes the blog All About Healthy Choices had some very informed ideas on fighting the flu which he offered in comments.

I know that there is a division of opinion about getting flu shots. I think flu shots, like politics, religion and labor unions are third rail conversational topics. Some people swear by flu shots (me) and some swear at them. The decision is yours, of course. I would offer anecdotally that I started getting them around 16 years ago when I was teaching journalism at Northwestern University. One of my students interviewed a senior citizen who said that she had been getting flu shots for 10 years and in that time she had not only not caught the flu, but she didn’t even catch a cold. That was good enough for me. I have been getting them ever since with similar results. Continue reading →

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Filed under Blood, flu season, flu shot

Tagged as blood work, cholesterol, flu season, flu shots, HDL Cholesterol, LDL Cholesterol, triglycerides

October 26, 2016 · 12:07 am

What do artificial sweeteners do to our blood?

I have strong feelings about the damage done by artificial sweeteners, particularly in diet sodas. You can check out my page – What’s wrong with soft drinks? for more details. I cover both offenders, artificial and sugar-laden drinks.

A recent study by investigators at the National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases at the National Institutes of Health measured how much artificial sweetener is absorbed into the blood stream by children and adults after drinking a can of diet soda. Results of this study are published in Toxicological & Environmental Chemistry.

The team measured the artificial sweeteners sucralose and acesulfame-potassium, which are found in a wide range of packaged foods and beverages. These artificial sweeteners, also including saccharin and aspartame, have received a lot of attention lately because it has been found that they are not inert chemicals with a sweet taste, but active substances that can affect the metabolism. (my emphasis) Continue reading →