Question

Maria is 52 years old, has a normal body mass index (BMI), and does not have any health problems. She prides herself on being "into" holistic treatments and goes to the doctor only when her attempts to treat herself fail. She occasionally takes one aspirin a day because she has heard that it can prevent heart attacks. She tries to eat a healthy diet and uses supplements to give her added protection against chronic diseases, especially heart disease, which runs in her family. Currently, she takes ginkgo biloba to prevent memory loss, garlic to prevent heart disease, and fish oil supplements to keep her blood thin. She routinely drinks omega-3-fortified orange juice and organic milk. She attributes the bruises on her legs to being clumsy. She is thinking about adding vitamin E to her regimen because she heard it may also lower the risk of heart disease. She is thinking about discontinuing her use of garlic pills and fish oil supplements and instead eating more garlic and fish in her diet.

• What are the dangers of her present regimen?
• What may be responsible for the bruising she is experiencing?
• What questions would you ask about her diet to see if there are any improvements in her eating habits she could make to reduce the risk of heart disease?

Minimum 300 Words

Answer 1

1. Dangers of present regimen of Ms.Maria:

Maria, even though she is a health conscious woman, Her present nutritional regimen is dangerous to her health. Her lack of knowledge on the effect of certain medications and the food or herbal supplements are harmful. First of all she is taking Aspirin without Physician's order . Aspirin is a blood thinner and is having antiplatelet activities. Ginkgo biloba and garlic also acting as antiplatelets even though they have other benefits . Fish oil can greatly help to maintain cardiac health, but it also can interfere with clotting process. In case of any wound , injury, or surgery, the patient may get severe bleeding.  

Most of the organic milk and orange juice that contain Omega 3 fatty acids, are added with synthetic additives . We can't call it as an organic milk, if it has some additives. Daily intake of such additive food items are not good enough for good health, instead she can have fish or other food items that contain Omega 3 fatty acids in the diet itself.  

2. Bruising:

A purplish mark on the skin due to leakage of blood from capillaries under the surface that have been damaged by a blow, is called a Bruising. Ms. Mary is having unexplained bruises on her legs. It is due to the intake of Aspirin tablet along with the other supplements that increases the blood thinning activity of the drug.   As the drug is a blood thinner, it increases the tendency of bleeding. One should not take the herbal Ginkgo biloba along with Aspirin. Both are having antiplatelet activities and may cause unexplained bleeding in the different parts of the body , under the skin etc. Fish oil and garlic also reduces the clotting ability of blood.  

3. Questions to ask her to know any improvement in the diet:

* What does a healthy diet look like to you?

* Do you have idea about ' Heart health diet' ? , can you tell me ' what is a heart health diet'.

* How often do you eat whole grains food items in a week?

* How often do you eat red meat or organ meat , in a week?

* How often do you include poultry or fish in the diet?

* How many servings of vegetables and fruits do yo have per day?

* Do you have idea about drug interactions with certain food items .?, such as aspirin and garlic.  

* Do you have the habit of Alcoholism or smoking ? ( both can interfere with a person's nutritional status)

* How often Do you consume fried items an processed foods?

* Can you mention two benefits of low fat food in preventing heart disease.  

* What foods are considering as the worst food in developing hear disease?

* What are the Omega 3 fatty acid rich fresh food items that you included in the diet?