ORLANDO, Fla. (Ivanhoe Newswire) — Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the U.S. Not getting enough exercise, eating too many fatty foods, and smoking are all risk factors for heart disease. But new research has found a less well-known risk factor.
Every 33 seconds someone dies from heart disease.
“Things like obesity, growing rates of diabetes, and probably other factors that we don’t totally understand… maybe pollution, or other things are raising levels of heart disease,” said Deepak L. Bhatt, MD, MPH, director of the Mount Sinai Fuster Heart Hospital.
Now new research suggests having low magnesium can also increase your risk. Several studies have found that low magnesium can lead to heart disease and heart failure. It was also linked to other conditions like high blood pressure, stroke, and atrial fibrillation. Magnesium is important to your body’s muscle and nerve function, blood sugar control, and energy production, so…
“There are probably many risk factors that we don’t yet fully appreciate. Pay attention to your symptoms. If you’re having symptoms, get them checked out,” said Prakash Balan, MD, interventional cardiologist at Lifetime Heart & Vascular.
Some symptoms to watch out for include muscle cramps, headaches accompanied by nausea, dizziness, and sensitivity to light, numbness in your hands and feet, fatigue, irritability, and poor sleep. To get more magnesium in your diet eat more nuts, seeds, black beans, edamame and dark leafy greens like spinach or Swiss chard to provide your body an important lifeline.
There are groups of people who are more prone to developing a magnesium deficiency. They include older adults, people with gastrointestinal diseases, such as Crohn’s disease and celiac disease, and people with Type 2 diabetes.
Contributors to this news report include: Milvionne Chery, Producer; Chuck Bennethum, Editor.
Sources:
https://www.cdc.gov/heart-disease/risk-factors/index.html
https://www.cdc.gov/heart-disease/data-research/facts-stats/index.html
* For More Information, Contact:
Deepak L. Bhatt, MD, MPH
Director of the Mount Sinai Fuster Heart Hospital
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