WHERE?

North Ryde Golf Club
Twin Rd (off Lane Cove Rd), North Ryde

When?

Sunday 24th March 2013 9.30am to 4.15pm

Practitioners: CPE points available
Buffet lunch included

A natural antioxidant found in fruit and vegetables can protect against heart disease just as well as a powerful statin drug.

The antioxidant - an enzyme called glutathione peroxidase (or GPx3) can dramatically reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and heart attack.  People with high levels of GPx3 were six times less likely to have heart problems, say researchers from the University of Minnesota Medical School.

The antioxidant is found in fruit, vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage, and Brazil nuts, and appears to have the same protective effect as a statin drug, but without the sometimes dangerous side effects. [Note that cooking vegetables will remove most of the glutathione peroxidase.]

The researchers estimate that low levels of GPx3 put one in four adults at risk of a fatal heart attack.

They hope that eventually blood tests for GPx3 levels will become a standard way of assessing heart attack risk.

Abridged from PLoS One, 2012;7:e38901

Have you found those dreaded extra kilos starting to creep up during the chilly winter months?

Don’t despair – here are Hopewood Health Retreat’s Top Tips for avoiding winter weight gain, as reported in the Winter 2010 issue of our magazine, Natural Health and Vegetarian Life .