scholarly journals Urban forest biodiversity and cardiovascular disease: Potential health benefits from California’s street trees

PLoS ONE ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (11) ◽  
pp. e0254973
Author(s):  
John J. Giacinto ◽  
G. Andrew Fricker ◽  
Matthew Ritter ◽  
Jenn Yost ◽  
Jacqueline Doremus
Keyword(s):  
Cardiovascular Disease ◽  
Heart Disease ◽  
Mortality Rate ◽  
Urban Forest ◽  
Health Benefits ◽  
Shannon Index ◽  
Tree Planting ◽  
Forest Biodiversity ◽  
Street Trees ◽  
Potential Health

Enhanced immune functioning in response to biodiversity may explain potential health benefits from exposure to green space. Using unique data on urban forest biodiversity at the zip code level for California measured from 2014 to 2019 we test whether greater diversity of street trees is associated with reduced death from cardiovascular disease. We find that urban forests with greater biodiversity measured via the Shannon Index at the genus level are associated with a lower mortality rate for heart disease and stroke. Our estimates imply that increasing the Shannon Index by one standard deviation (0.64) is associated with a decrease in the mortality rate of 21.4 per 100,000 individuals for heart disease or 13% and 7.7 per 100,000 individuals for stroke or 16%. Our estimates remain robust across several sensitivity checks. A policy simulation for tree planting in Los Angeles based on our estimates suggests that if these relationships were causal, investment in planting for a more biodiverse set of street trees would be a cost-effective way to reduce mortality related to cardiovascular disease in urban areas.

scholarly journals Time Trends in Cardiovascular Disease Mortality Across the BRICS

Circulation ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 141 (10) ◽  
pp. 790-799 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhiyong Zou ◽  
Karly Cini ◽  
Bin Dong ◽  
Yinghua Ma ◽  
Jun Ma ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Cardiovascular Disease ◽  
Heart Disease ◽  
Mortality Rate ◽  
Annual Percentage Change ◽  
Birth Cohorts ◽  
Period Effects ◽  
Standardized Mortality Rate ◽  
Over Time ◽  
Cvd Mortality

Background: Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) are emerging economies making up almost half the global population. We analyzed trends in cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality across the BRICS and associations with age, period, and birth cohort. Methods: Mortality estimates were derived from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017. We used age-period-cohort modeling to estimate cohort and period effects in CVD between 1992 and 2016. Period was defined as survey year, and period effects reflect population-wide exposure at a circumscribed point in time. Cohort effects are defined as differences in risks across birth cohort. Net drift (overall annual percentage change), local drift (annual percentage change in each age group), longitudinal age curves (expected longitudinal age-specific rate), and period (cohort) relative risks were calculated. Results: In 2016, there were 8.4 million CVD deaths across the BRICS. Between 1992 and 2016, the reduction in CVD age-standardized mortality rate in BRICS (−17%) was less than in North America (−39%). Eighty-eight percent of the increased number of all-cause deaths resulted from the increase in CVD deaths. The age-standardized mortality rate from stroke and hypertensive heart disease declined by approximately one-third across the BRICS, whereas ischemic heart disease increased slightly (2%). Brazil had the largest age-standardized mortality rate reductions across all CVD categories, with improvement both over time and in recent birth cohorts. South Africa was the only country where the CVD age-standardized mortality rate increased. Different age-related CVD mortality was seen in those ≥50 years of age in China, ≤40 years of age in Russia, 35 to 60 years of age in India, and ≥55 years of age in South Africa. Improving period and cohort risks for CVD mortality were generally found across countries, except for worsening period effects in India and greater risks for ischemic heart disease in Chinese cohorts born in the 1950s and 1960s. Conclusions: Except for Brazil, reductions of CVD mortality across the BRICS have been less than that in North America, such that China, India, and South Africa contribute an increasing proportion of global CVD deaths. Brazil’s example suggests that prevention policies can both reduce the risks for younger birth cohorts and shift the risks for all age groups over time.

scholarly journals Naturally Lignan-Rich Foods: A Dietary Tool for Health Promotion?

Molecules ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (5) ◽  
pp. 917 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carmen Rodríguez-García ◽  
Cristina Sánchez-Quesada ◽  
Estefanía Toledo ◽  
Miguel Delgado-Rodríguez ◽  
José Gaforio
Keyword(s):  
Breast Cancer ◽  
Cardiovascular Disease ◽  
Chemical Structure ◽  
Health Benefits ◽  
Dietary Guidelines ◽  
Current Evidence ◽  
Polyphenol Content ◽  
Potential Health ◽  
Bioactive Properties ◽  
Health Promoting

Dietary guidelines universally advise adherence to plant-based diets. Plant-based foods confer considerable health benefits, partly attributable to their abundant micronutrient (e.g., polyphenol) content. Interest in polyphenols is largely focused on the contribution of their antioxidant activity to the prevention of various disorders, including cardiovascular disease and cancer. Polyphenols are classified into groups, such as stilbenes, flavonoids, phenolic acids, lignans and others. Lignans, which possess a steroid-like chemical structure and are defined as phytoestrogens, are of particular interest to researchers. Traditionally, health benefits attributed to lignans have included a lowered risk of heart disease, menopausal symptoms, osteoporosis and breast cancer. However, the intake of naturally lignan-rich foods varies with the type of diet. Consequently, based on the latest humans’ findings and gathered information on lignan-rich foods collected from Phenol Explorer database this review focuses on the potential health benefits attributable to the consumption of different diets containing naturally lignan-rich foods. Current evidence highlight the bioactive properties of lignans as human health-promoting molecules. Thus, dietary intake of lignan-rich foods could be a useful way to bolster the prevention of chronic illness, such as certain types of cancers and cardiovascular disease.

scholarly journals Cocoa and health: a decade of research

2007 ◽  
Vol 99 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen A. Cooper ◽  
Jennifer L. Donovan ◽  
Andrew L. Waterhouse ◽  
Gary Williamson
Keyword(s):  
Medical Journal ◽  
Heart Disease ◽  
Antioxidant Status ◽  
Disease Risk ◽  
Health Benefits ◽  
Potential Health ◽  
The Press ◽  
Potential Sources ◽  
Heart Disease Risk

It has been over 10 years since the first mention in a medical journal about cocoa and chocolate as potential sources of antioxidants for health. During this time, cocoa has been found to improve antioxidant status, reduce inflammation and correlate with reduced heart disease risk; with these results, and its popularity, it has received wide coverage in the press. However, after 10 years of research, what is known about the potential health benefits of cocoa and what are the important next steps in understanding this decadent source of antioxidants?

scholarly journals Why Opt-in to a Planting Program? Long-term Residents Value Street Tree Aesthetics

2015 ◽  
Vol 41 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dexter Locke ◽  
Lara Roman ◽  
Colleen Murphy-Dunning
Keyword(s):  
Urban Forest ◽  
Urban Forestry ◽  
Environmental Benefits ◽  
Tree Planting ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Capital Investments ◽  
New Haven ◽  
Street Trees ◽  
Street Tree

Many cities are making substantial capital investments in urban tree planting. Residents play active and diverse roles in enhancing and protecting the urban forest, and are therefore critical to many municipal-level policy objectives. The way residents perceive and value the urban forest can have implications for achieving urban forestry goals through residents and volunteers. However, urban residents are not a monolithic block or homogenous category; instead, they have diverse opinions, needs, and constraints. Moreover, relatively little is known about how residents hear about available resources, such as free trees, and decide to ‘opt-in’ to tree planting initiatives, choosing to plant and maintain trees on or near their properties. The focus of this study was to address three questions about participation in a request-driven program that provides free street trees to residents of New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.: 1) Who requests trees through this program? 2) How did the requesters hear about this program? 3) Why did residents request free street trees? Survey respondents were primarily long-term residents of New Haven; mostly learned about the opportunity from their neighbors; and requested a street tree to replace a removed tree, because they value the aesthetics, and to a lesser extent the environmental benefits. Future research should systematically investigate differences between participants and non-participants in local tree planting initiatives, exploring possible trends across cities and programs. Such studies would identify opportunities and barriers to engaging private residents in efforts aimed at increasing canopy.

scholarly journals A Review of Procyanidin: Updates on Current Bioactivities and Potential Health Benefits

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 5918-5940
Keyword(s):  
Oxidative Stress ◽  
Cardiovascular Disease ◽  
Chronic Diseases ◽  
Metabolic Disorders ◽  
Health Benefits ◽  
Potential Health ◽  
Macrophage Activity ◽  
Cellular Effects ◽  
Current Review ◽  
Anti Inflammatory

Procyanidin is an abundant polyphenol found in nature. It is composed of flavan-3-ol units, including catechin and epicatechin. Procyanidin is a polyphenolic polymer found in abundance in grapes, cranberries, apples, tea, cocoa, and pine bark. Procyanidin possessed antioxidant, anticancer, antitumor, anti-inflammatory, immunosuppressive, and antiallergy properties and protected against chronic diseases and metabolic disorders. Consequently, procyanidin may protect against chronic diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, and immune-related diseases. Procyanidin acts as an anti-inflammatory, inhibits adipogenesis, melanogenesis, oxidative stress, and enhances lipid metabolism and macrophage activity. The current review summarized the numerous potential health benefits of procyanidin. Despite recent advances, multiple questions and challenges remain regarding procyanidin’s action, biogenesis, and bioavailability mechanisms. Further investigation of procyanidin’s metabolism, genetics, and cellular effects is necessary and should be pursued.

scholarly journals The contribution of PM2.5 to cardiovascular disease in China

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (30) ◽  
pp. 37502-37513 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuqi Zhang ◽  
Michael N. Routledge
Keyword(s):  
Cardiovascular Disease ◽  
Air Pollution ◽  
Heart Disease ◽  
Health Effects ◽  
Cardiovascular Health ◽  
Rapid Urbanization ◽  
Potential Health ◽  
Adverse Health Effects ◽  
Epidemiologic Evidence ◽  
Global Evidence

Abstract China is experiencing rapid urbanization and industrialization with correspondingly high levels of air pollution. Although the harm of PM2.5 has been long reported, it is only quite recently that there is increasing concern in China for its possible adverse health effects on cardiovascular disease. We reviewed the epidemiologic evidence of potential health effects of PM2.5 on cardiovascular disease reported from recent studies in China (2013 onwards). There is clear evidence for the contribution of PM2.5 to cardiovascular outcomes, including mortality, ischemic heart disease, and stroke from studies based in various regions in China. This evidence adds to the global evidence that PM2.5 contributes to adverse cardiovascular health risk and highlights the need for improved air quality in China.

scholarly journals Potential Health Benefits of Deep Sea Water: A Review

2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Samihah Zura Mohd Nani ◽  
F. A. A. Majid ◽  
A. B. Jaafar ◽  
A. Mahdzir ◽  
M. N. Musa
Keyword(s):  
Cardiovascular Disease ◽  
Low Temperature ◽  
Deep Sea ◽  
Sea Water ◽  
Health Benefits ◽  
Good Source ◽  
Potential Health ◽  
Deep Sea Water ◽  
Beneficial Elements ◽  
Organic Decomposition

Deep sea water (DSW) commonly refers to a body of seawater that is pumped up from a depth of over 200 m. It is usually associated with the following characteristics: low temperature, high purity, and being rich with nutrients, namely, beneficial elements, which include magnesium, calcium, potassium, chromium, selenium, zinc, and vanadium. Less photosynthesis of plant planktons, consumption of nutrients, and organic decomposition have caused lots of nutrients to remain there. Due to this, DSW has potential to become a good source for health. Research has proven that DSW can help overcome health problems especially related to lifestyle-associated diseases such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, cancer, and skin problems. This paper reviews the potential health benefits of DSW by referring to the findings from previous researches.

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