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Health See other Health Articles Title: Hard awater protective against coronary disease Medscape: Helsinki, Finland - Hard water may protect against coronary artery disease, a new Finnish study suggests. The study, published in the February 2004 issue of the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, also found that fluoride in water may reduce the risk of MI but that copper and iron may increase MI risk. One of the authors, Dr Marjatta Karvonen (National Public Health Institute, Helsinki, Finland), explained to heartwire that this was purely a hypothesis-generating study and that no recommendations could be made on the basis of the results. "It is just an interesting finding that justifies further research in this area. Case-control studies now need to be done," she said. "It is impossible to talk about causative factors at this point. Coronary heart disease is a multifactorial disease, many different risk factors are interacting, and all we can say at this point is that water hardness may be one of them." In the paper, the authors point out that heart-disease mortality rates are higher in the eastern part than in the western part of Finland, but that this variation is not fully explained by major known CHD risk factors. They say that the large geographical variation and changes in the incidence of MI in Finland cannot be explained by individual lifestyle or genetic factors alone and that environmental exposures must also contribute to the development of the disease, and they speculate that these could include the availability of trace elements in soil and groundwater. They thus conducted a study to examine the possible association of the variation of MI incidence with geochemical compounds in groundwater. By analyzing the nationwide death register and hospital-discharge register, the researchers identified 18946 cases of first MI (both fatal and nonfatal) from the years 1983, 1988, and 1993. They matched each case to place of residence and correlated this to geochemical data on water hardness and trace-element content obtained from the Geological Survey of Finland. Results showed an inverse relationship between hardness of water and MI incidence, with a 1% decrease in MI risk with each 1-unit increase in water hardness. Age-standardized MI incidence according to water hardness Water hardness (degree of hardness) <1.7 1.7-5.2 >5.2 562.1 469.5 437.6 To download table as a slide, click on slide logo below The researchers could not find any significant associations between groundwater mineral content and MI risk, but their analyses showed a trend toward a protective effect of fluoride, while higher levels of iron and copper were associated with a trend toward an increased risk. "Every 1 mg/L of fluoride in household drinking water was associated with a 3% decrease in the risk of a heart attack. On the other hand, every 1 g/L increase in copper and every 1 mg/L increase in iron increased the risk by an average of 4% and 10%, respectively," they note. The authors conclude that these results support previous studies that have found an inverse link between water hardness and MI risk. Noting that water hardness is determined by the content of magnesium and calcium, they point out that magnesium intake has decreased over the years in the Western world and that magnesium in water, appearing as hydrated ions, has a higher bioavailability than magnesium in food. Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest
#1. To: Tatarewicz (#0)
I suggest, as a possibility, that it might trace to the higher magnesium content of the hard water.
"“Believe nothing merely because you have been told it. Do not believe what your teacher tells you merely out of respect for the teacher. But whatsoever, after due examination and analysis, you find to be kind, conducive to the good, the benefit, the welfare of all beings - that doctrine believe and cling to, and take it as your guide.” ~ Gautama Siddhartha — The Buddha |
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