Cardiovascular risk lean PCOS
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stacicali
Posts: 137 Member
Hi ladies,
I subscribe to several PCOS sites and received an email today that I wanted to share:
"Are you one of the lucky ones who doesn’t have to worry about your weight? If you’re on the lean side, you avoid many of the health problems suffered by your heavier comrades. But a possible exception is risk for developing cardiovascular disease.
Surprisingly, it appears that lean women with PCOS have some blood impairments that could eventually lead to cardiovascular disease, according to Australian researchers.
They selected a group of lean PCOSers and compared them to a similar non-PCOS group. Both groups had unremarkable cardiovascular risk profiles, based on clinical data. In other words, they all seemed to be "normal".
However, the researchers decided to dig a little deeper, beyond what your doctor would do. They used some advanced techniques to analyze how the blood was behaving.
Compared to the healthy women, the PCOS women were shown to have increased blood viscosity, or thickness of the blood. This impairs blood flow and puts a strain on your heart.
One of the factors contributing to this problem was the increased tendency of the lean PCOS women to have clumping of their red blood cells. Ideally, each red blood cells floats along by itself. But in this case, they aggregate and form clumps, which makes it a lot more difficult for them to circulate efficiently.
A third finding of the researchers was that the lean PCOS women had poorer delivery of oxygen by the red blood cells.
The researchers concluded: "The degree of hemorheological derangement observed in the present study reflects that of overt chronic disease". In plain English, they used advanced methods to detect hidden blood problems in this group of PCOS women that were significant enough to suggest the presence of cardiovascular disease.
In summary, according to this study, you could have issues with your cardiovascular system even if your doctor checked your cholesterol and said you are perfectly fine and have nothing to worry about.
So, whether you’re lean or not, your best bet is to be proactive and prevent this problem in the first place. Here are a few ideas on what to do.
1) Ask your doctor about taking a baby aspirin. A study from Hôpital Arnaud de Villeneuv in France showed that taking 100 mg of aspirin reduced red blood cell clumping, whether or not they were on birth control pills. (It appears that birth control pills can increase clumping of blood cells.) I’m not saying you should take 100 mg -- check with your doctor first.
2) The omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oil or fish oil capsules have a favorable effect on blood viscosity and clumping, and improve cardiovascular function in other ways.
3) Chronic inflammation is thought to be a major cause of increased blood viscosity and other blood flow impairments. Inflammation is a well-known contributor to cardiovascular disease and is a prominent feature of PCOS. An excellent way to control inflammation is to continue to consume a diet consisting of whole, natural foods. In contrast, processed convenience foods are generally pro-inflammatory.
4) Go here for a list of other things you can do to improve blood viscosity. If you would like to see some background information on this important topic – be sure to watch the video on this page so you can understand what’s going on inside your bloodstream.
In general, a simpler diet of natural foods combined with lots of physical activity should take you far in the right direction. The primitive Tsimane people of Bolivia do this. They have the best heart health in the world.
Best of health!
Bill Slater, Editor PCOS Health Review
co-author of "The Natural Diet Solution for PCOS and Infertility"
I subscribe to several PCOS sites and received an email today that I wanted to share:
"Are you one of the lucky ones who doesn’t have to worry about your weight? If you’re on the lean side, you avoid many of the health problems suffered by your heavier comrades. But a possible exception is risk for developing cardiovascular disease.
Surprisingly, it appears that lean women with PCOS have some blood impairments that could eventually lead to cardiovascular disease, according to Australian researchers.
They selected a group of lean PCOSers and compared them to a similar non-PCOS group. Both groups had unremarkable cardiovascular risk profiles, based on clinical data. In other words, they all seemed to be "normal".
However, the researchers decided to dig a little deeper, beyond what your doctor would do. They used some advanced techniques to analyze how the blood was behaving.
Compared to the healthy women, the PCOS women were shown to have increased blood viscosity, or thickness of the blood. This impairs blood flow and puts a strain on your heart.
One of the factors contributing to this problem was the increased tendency of the lean PCOS women to have clumping of their red blood cells. Ideally, each red blood cells floats along by itself. But in this case, they aggregate and form clumps, which makes it a lot more difficult for them to circulate efficiently.
A third finding of the researchers was that the lean PCOS women had poorer delivery of oxygen by the red blood cells.
The researchers concluded: "The degree of hemorheological derangement observed in the present study reflects that of overt chronic disease". In plain English, they used advanced methods to detect hidden blood problems in this group of PCOS women that were significant enough to suggest the presence of cardiovascular disease.
In summary, according to this study, you could have issues with your cardiovascular system even if your doctor checked your cholesterol and said you are perfectly fine and have nothing to worry about.
So, whether you’re lean or not, your best bet is to be proactive and prevent this problem in the first place. Here are a few ideas on what to do.
1) Ask your doctor about taking a baby aspirin. A study from Hôpital Arnaud de Villeneuv in France showed that taking 100 mg of aspirin reduced red blood cell clumping, whether or not they were on birth control pills. (It appears that birth control pills can increase clumping of blood cells.) I’m not saying you should take 100 mg -- check with your doctor first.
2) The omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oil or fish oil capsules have a favorable effect on blood viscosity and clumping, and improve cardiovascular function in other ways.
3) Chronic inflammation is thought to be a major cause of increased blood viscosity and other blood flow impairments. Inflammation is a well-known contributor to cardiovascular disease and is a prominent feature of PCOS. An excellent way to control inflammation is to continue to consume a diet consisting of whole, natural foods. In contrast, processed convenience foods are generally pro-inflammatory.
4) Go here for a list of other things you can do to improve blood viscosity. If you would like to see some background information on this important topic – be sure to watch the video on this page so you can understand what’s going on inside your bloodstream.
In general, a simpler diet of natural foods combined with lots of physical activity should take you far in the right direction. The primitive Tsimane people of Bolivia do this. They have the best heart health in the world.
Best of health!
Bill Slater, Editor PCOS Health Review
co-author of "The Natural Diet Solution for PCOS and Infertility"
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Replies
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Wow. I wonder if this is a larger risk for obese PCOS sufferers, but highlighted because lean ladies tend to see less on standard tests? Guess this is yet another thing to take to the new doctor, because I'm on BCP, too, know I have chronic inflammation but struggle to manage it. And I'm terrible about remembering my fish oil...2
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@stacicali thank you for sharing. That was a very interesting read!1
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Yikes. Good to know! Thanks! I theoretically have a very low risk of cardiovascular issues but maybe not ...?1
