Early menarche, termed as having your first period before the age of 12 years old, is thought to be detrimental late in life. Some earlier studies have indicated that those with early menarche are more likely to have an increased body mass index, and also more susceptible to diseases such as diabetes. Diabetes and obesity are both heart disease causes.   Women with early menarche also have a higher risk of high blood pressure and high cholesterol, two other heart disease causes.

The most recent study followed over 15 000 women between the ages of 40 and 79, and after adjusting for heart disease risk factors such as smoking and exercising, it was found that the women who had menarche younger than 12 years old were 23% more likely to have heart disease, and 285 more likely to die from a heart attack or stroke. They also had a 25% greater chance of dying from cancer.

The latest heart disease causes tell us that if you have had early menarche you must be aware of your increased risk of heart disease, and must look at other heart disease risk factors and modify them in order to reduce your risk of heart disease.

Lycopene is known as an antioxidant, and antioxidants have been shown to have numerous health benefits including reduction in oxidation which is responsible for high blood pressure and high cholesterol involved in heart disease. Lycopene can be difficult to absorb and the majority of our lycopene comes from tomato puree, tomato sauce, tomato juice and pizza toppings would you believe, whoever said pizza was bad for you could be wrong!!

However studies involving lycopene have yet to show that it reduces stroke, heart disease and heart attacks. The fact that it may lower oxidative processes within the body is not enough to warrant giving up your statins just yet. Another flaw in the very small studies conducted was the fact that no placebo was used. If you do not use a control then you can not compare your results to anything. The studies conducted only involved around 12 subjects, which is far too small a group to determine if lycopene is indeed useful for preventing heart disease.

It is back to the drawing board for this one, as many large scale trials are needed to indeed show the benefits of lycopene in preventing heart disease. Without such concrete evidence one cannot be sure that it is indeed lycopene and not another dietary factor which is responsible for the prevention of heart disease.

Recent research has indicated that a single pill containing four or five drugs can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease by as much as 80 %.  The two year long study was carried out on just over 2000 Indians aged 45-80 with no known heart disease, and at least one risk factor of heart disease such as high blood pressure or high cholesterol.  Measurements taken in subjects at the end of the study showed that those individuals who had consumed the pill has a lower heart rate, lower blood pressure and lower cholesterol levels.

The good news is that this polypill (polycap) looks set to reach India in the next months, and will sure be  a hit to help reduce the causes of heart disease.