Psoriasis and Other Conditions
Tuesday October 02, 2012
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Tuesday October 02, 2012
Friday September 14, 2012
Tuesday September 04, 2012
Psoriasis can increase the risk of heart disease and heart attack. Psoriasis can also affect the risk of factors that increase your risk of heart disease, such as abdominal obesity (belly fat), high blood pressure, low levels of “good” cholesterol, increased blood sugar levels, and high levels of triglycerides (a type of body fat). Exercising, eating healthy, and losing weight can help reduce these risks. Here’s how you can get started:
Wednesday August 15, 2012
You may think of psoriasis as a skin disease but it’s more than that. Psoriasis is actually a disease of the immune system and researchers are finding that some diseases affected by the immune system and inflammation in the body are linked to psoriasis.
People with psoriasis, for example, are at an increased risk of heart disease and heart attack. Scientists believe that the chronic inflammation that occurs in the immune system if you have psoriasis can also cause other problems in the body, such as hardening of the arteries (which is a build-up of substances such as plaque). Hardened arteries increase the risk of heart disease.
Psoriasis can also increase the risk of factors of metabolic syndrome, a cluster of related health risks that increase the risk for heart attack, stroke, and type 2 diabetes. These health risks include abdominal obesity (belly fat), increased blood sugar levels, high levels of triglycerides (a type of body fat), low levels of HDL (“good”) cholesterol, and high blood pressure.
You can do something about these risk factors. Here’s how you can help protect your heart:
* Find out what your risks are. Talk to your doctor to learn about what risk factors you have for heart disease and the steps you can take to help reduce those risks. Your doctor will help you come up with a plan to monitor and, if necessary, treat these risk factors.
* If you’ve already been diagnosed with diabetes, high blood pressure, or high cholesterol, make sure you are doing all you can to keep these conditions under control. Follow the treatment plan recommended by your doctor, including taking all your medications as prescribed and making lifestyle changes.
* Eat a heart-healthy diet. Not only will healthy nutrition reduce your risk for heart disease, it will help with your overall health.
* Exercise regularly. Regular exercise can help you feel better, lose weight, have more energy, and lower blood pressure.
* Quit smoking. Smoking and exposure to second-hand smoke can increase your risk of heart disease by increasing the risk of blood clots and contributing to the narrowing of your arteries due to plaque build-up. Quitting smoking will help reduce the risk of heart disease.
People with psoriasis may also have other conditions including psoriatic arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease.
Monday December 19, 2011
As reported in the Archives of Dermatology, the likelihood that the study group of U.S. women would develop psoriasis over a 14-year follow-up varied by both the amount and type of alcoholic beverage consumed. Overall, the study showed that women who drank more than 2.3 alcoholic beverages a week were at greater relative risk for psoriasis compared with non-drinkers.
However, in the study, non-light beer was the only alcoholic beverage that increased the risk for developing psoriasis—the risk being between 1.8 and 2.3 times higher among women who drank 5 or more non-light beers a week compared with women who abstained from alcohol.
In contrast, drinking light beer, red or white wine or liquor was not significantly associated with the development of psoriasis. The barley in beer may act as a psoriasis trigger as barley contains gluten, which has been associated with psoriasis. A gluten-free diet may improve psoriasis severity in patients with a gluten sensitivity.