Nutrition, health and the holiday season: How we take care of our hearts during the holidays

The holiday season, and especially Christmas, is associated, for most, with a relaxed mood, an opportunity to meet with family and friends, and an abundance of food.

Despite the festive atmosphere and pleasant mood, changes in lifestyle habits during the holiday season can be accompanied by health-diet deviations that “hide” risks, says the president of the EKPA School of Medicine, Professor of Cardiology Gerasimos Siassos.

“The increased intake of calories, glucose, meat, alcohol and, in some cases, the reduction of physical activity, can increase body weight, deregulate sugar levels in patients with diabetes and of course deregulate the overall cardio-metabolic “profile”” .

Regarding the prevention of cardiovascular diseases, attention has been turned in recent years to the reduction of the overall cardiovascular risk, notes Mr. Siassos.

Total cardiovascular risk is calculated based on ready-made applications that take into account age, sex, smoking, hypertension and cholesterol levels. If there is documented cardiovascular disease or DM for more than 10 years, the cardiovascular risk is very high and requires special attention and more aggressive regulation-reduction of risk factors.

The reduction of the overall cardiovascular risk is achieved by reducing each individual risk factor so that overall the cardiovascular risk is small. “So it is important to address smoking, hypertension, DM and hyperlipidemia.

Especially for hyperlipidemia target levels of LDL cholesterol (or otherwise ‘normal values’) are judged on a case-by-case basis depending on overall cardiovascular risk,” he adds.

He adds that “the best nutritional way to achieve a good lipid profile is the Mediterranean diet, rich in legumes, fish, olive oil, fruits and vegetables.

It is also important to avoid foods containing saturated fatty acids and to limit alcohol consumption to less than 100 g per week or no more than one glass per day. Holiday time off can also give us the opportunity to engage in some activity that can contribute to both calorie loss and weight regulation as well as risk factor modification, particularly serum glucose and lipid levels.”

Mr. Siassos explains that “tests for lipid levels include measurement of LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, triglycerides and apolipoprotein B. We are mainly interested in LDL or ‘bad cholesterol’.”

Depending on how many risk factors a patient has, values ​​should be below 100 when they are at intermediate risk, below 70 when they are at high risk, and below 55 when they are at very high risk or have documented cardiovascular disease.

For triglycerides when they are elevated >200mg/dl, we usually first give drugs to deal with LDL cholesterol and only if they remain high, we also give special drugs for triglycerides (fibrates).

In recent years, the role of the lipoprotein Lp(a) in cardiovascular risk has been highlighted, the levels of which are largely genetically determined. High-risk individuals should be measured at least once (high levels are considered values ​​> 50mg/dl or > 125nmol/L)’.

It turns out that the holiday season may be an opportunity to examine our health, review our goals and lifestyle habits, and adopt healthier lifestyles and diets.

RES-EMP

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