January 2, 2011
Care for your Heart
CATIE has an excellent review of heart health, abstract below. It reviews the risk factors, methods for assessing heart health and means to help reduce risk of heart attack and stroke. There is a special emphasis on issues affecting people living with HIV.
Fact Sheets
HIV and cardiovascular disease: keeping your heart and blood vessels healthy
SummaryCardiovascular disease affects the health of your heart and blood vessels and can lead to heart attacks or stroke. You may think that these are problems that affect only older people. However, emerging research suggests that HIV infection increases the risk for cardiovascular disease, including heart attacks and stroke, even in relatively young people. So, regular monitoring by your doctor of your overall and cardiovascular health should be part of your plan for living longer and living well. Getting on treatment for HIV is one of the best things you can do to stay healthy. This Fact Sheet has many additional steps you can take to reduce your risk for heart attacks, stroke and other complications.
This CATIE fact sheet addresses the potential of certain supplements to support cardiovascular health: Omega-3 fatty acids (fish oil); niacin; carnitine; CoQ10; and chromium (subject of an interesting small study in Canada).
Read more about supplements for cardiovascular health at NYBC’s pages on “Cholesterol/Triglycerides” at
http://nybcsecure.org/index.php?cPath=35 and on “CoQ10″ at http://nybcsecure.org/index.php?cPath=47 (includes practical suggestions for optimizing your use of CoQ10).
February 20, 2008
Pantethine for cholesterol control
Pantethine, a biologically active form of pantothenic acid or Vitamin B5, has been used for several decades in Japan and Europe to treat fatty liver and as an adjunct treatment in managing cholesterol. In the US, pantethine is available as a dietary supplement. Research points to its ability to lower LDL (the so-called “bad” cholesterol) and triglycerides, while raising HDL (the so-called “good” cholesterol). A good review of pantethine may be found on the website of the Oregon State University/Linus Pauling Institute:
http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/vitamins/pa/
For people with HIV who are using nutritional supplements to help improve their lipid profile, there’s a good info sheet from the Canadian AIDS Treatment Information Exchange, featuring a description of pantethine:
http://www.catie.ca/pdf/Supple-e/Nutrients_e.pdf
See also the NYBC entry on Pantethine for a description of its role in lipid metabolism.
