Body scans can help reveal cardiovascular risk

Friday, February 7, is National Wear Red Day meant to raise awareness of the number one killer of women, cardiovascular disease.

The American Heart Association says cardiovascular disease impacts some women at higher rates than others, but the simple truth is that most cardiovascular diseases can still be prevented with education and healthy lifestyle changes.

The Cooper Clinic's cardiologist Dr. Nina Radford says there are risk factors specific to women, like, early menopause, polycystic ovarian disease, and high blood pressure during pregnancy, to name a few.

There's also a higher prevalence of obesity in women, however, your weight doesn't tell the whole story.

Dr. Radford says they can learn a lot more about your risk for cardiovascular disease from your body composition, which is how much of your weight is fat versus lean muscle mass.

A woman can weigh 100 pounds, but if much of that is visceral fat, which is fat around the organs and in the belly, her body is full of inflammation and generating chemicals that can cause hardening of the arteries.

If she has other risk factors, like high blood pressure, high stress levels or genetic predispositions, her risk for heart disease will go up.

"If she has a BMI of 25 but has unhealthy body composition and high blood sugar, I'm going to say, 'Listen, for you, resistance training is a very important tool for you to reduce your risk of developing cardiovascular disease,'" said Dr. Radford.

Building muscle through resistance training could change body composition for the better.

Muscle tissue is more metabolically active, so it helps control blood sugar and lowers insulin resistance, which helps prevent type 2 diabetes, a major risk factor for heart disease.

"I think we're all comfortable with counting our steps, walking after work, getting on the treadmill, those kinds of things, but women are less likely to engage in resistance training," said Dr. Radford.

"Using our own body weight, with squats, lunges, sit-ups or push-ups, pull-ups, those kinds of things. You can use resistance bands, which are really great for women who may travel a lot in terms of their regular sort of week-to-week, day-to-day. You can use barbells, you know, something that you could have at home," said Dr. Radford.

A DEXA scan, historically used for bone density scanning, is also an accurate way to measure body composition.

Cooper Clinic is one of the few medical facilities to use the technology to accurately and objectively measure body fat composition, but other body composition technology is available around DFW, including body composition scales at many local gyms.

The ideal body fat measurement for a 40-year-old male is 20% to 24%, while 26% to 32% is ideal for females of the same age, according to Cooper Aerobics Health & Wellness.

During Heart Month, it's important to know the signs and symptoms of a heart attack.

If you have any of these signs, call 911 and get to a hospital right away:

• Uncomfortable pressure, squeezing, fullness or pain in the center of your chest. It lasts more than a few minutes or goes away and comes back.
• Pain or discomfort in one or both arms, the back, neck, jaw or stomach.
• Shortness of breath with or without chest discomfort.
• Other signs such as breaking out in a cold sweat, nausea or lightheadedness.
• The most common heart attack symptom is chest pain or discomfort.
• Signs and symptoms of stroke include:
• Sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm or leg, especially on one side of the body
• Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding
• Sudden trouble seeing or blurred vision in one or both eyes
• Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination
• Sudden severe headache with no known cause