The indigenous people of Tibet cared for their hearts on many levels, and therefore, unlike in many Western civilizations, cardiovascular disease is not the most common cause of death in the Himalayas. For centuries, they learned to slow down, to eliminate stress from their daily routine and to eat healthily. Also the Tibetan sea buckthorn, which grows abundantly in these areas and is an integral part of the local diet, contributes to the proper functioning of the heart and the entire cardiovascular system. In contemporary Western civilization, the risk of cardiovascular disease is associated with the presence of the health condition referred to as “metabolic syndrome.”
Metabolic syndrome (MS) is a technical term that encompasses a number of risk factors or diseases that often occur together and lead to untimely health complications. It is also known as Syndrome X, Reaven's Syndrome or Insulin Resistance Syndrome. As a result, MS leads to the development of Type 2 Diabetes and circulatory system problems (atherosclerosis, myocardial infarction or stroke).
Symptoms of Metabolic Syndrome (MS) include:
Abdominal obesity
High blood pressure
High levels of triacylglycerol
Low HDL cholesterol
Diabetes Mellitus Type 2
Obesity is one of the basic factors in the development of MS. In practice, it is not the total proportion of adipose tissue that is important, but its distribution. In particular, abdominal obesity - the accumulation of fat in the abdomen – is a risk factor. Waist circumferences greater than 80 cm/female and 94 cm/male are considered risk values. A high risk of metabolic complications is defined by a waist circumference of 88 cm/women and 102 cm/men.
Blood pressure, which has long been above 140/90 mmHg, is another a risk factor.
Triacylglycerols/Triglycerides (TAG) - these basic components of animal fats and vegetable oils in the body should not have a value higher than 1.7 mmol/l. It is also true that the yunger the age, the lower the level of triacylglycerols should be.
Doctors are most interested in triglyceride levels (TAG) in connection with atherosclerosis, a hardening of the arteries. High TAGs, together with high cholesterol, are one of the risk factors that cause the storage of fat particles in the walls of arteries. When this occurs, artery walls become thicker, lose elasticity, and eventually narrow, leading to poorer blood flow. Sometimes an artery can constrict, or block, completely resulting in a cardiovascular emergency. As atherosclerosis progresses, there is an increasing risk of suffering a heart attack, a stroke, reduced circulation to the feet, damaged eyesight or damaged kidneys.
HDL cholesterol, often referred to as "good" cholesterol, is involved in the transport of cholesterol from the tissues, where it is stored, back to the liver, where it is processed. Its low levels (below 1.3 mmol/l for females or below 1.0 mmol/l for males) indicate risk for the development of atherosclerosis. Of course, the total level of cholesterol and the ratio between HDL and LDL cholesterol must also be taken into account.
Diabetes Mellitus Type 2 - this disease is caused mainly by a condition where the tissues are unable to respond properly to insulin and glucose poorly enters the cells. It is also called insulin resistance.
Omega 7 fatty acids have gained attention through research that has examined in detail their effect on fat metabolism. This is because they are known to occur naturally in the structure of human cells, and the question has been raised as to whether the presence of Omega 7 can prevent the body from accumulating fat. Attention has also been paid to the ability of Omega 7 fatty acids to transform and eliminate fat so that the body’s glucose is not stored in the form of fat, but is converted into energy, which facilitates weight control.
Further research projects, such as that led by Dr. Bernstein in 2014, examined a controlled study in which some participants received a placebo while others received Omega 7 fatty acids to see if Omega 7 had an effect on reducing the amount of bad cholesterol (LDL) circulating in the veins, which would help maintain vascular wall flexibility.