This Pet Corrects Cholesterol (that one doesn’t)

Several studies in recent decades have proven that pets can improve stress levels and overall well-being.

But can pets improve cholesterol levels?

Yes, but not all pets, says a new study published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings: Innovations, Quality and Outcomes.

The authors wanted to answer two questions: firstly, whether pet ownership in general could improve our cardiovascular health and, secondly, whether dog ownership in particular could do so.

To investigate this, they consulted data collected by the Kardiovize Brno 2030 study. In 2013, this study started collecting the health and socioeconomic information of more than 2,000 people in the city of Brno, Czech Republic. Several follow-up visits were planned to take place at regular intervals until the year 2030.

Using the information from the 2018–2019 follow-up visit, the researchers examined the data of 1,769 subjects and rated them on the American Heart Association’s Life’s Simple 7. These include body mass index, diet, physical activity, smoking status, blood pressure, blood glucose, and total cholesterol.

In interviews, all participants were asked about their pet ownership status.

When comparing pet owners with non-owners, it initially seemed like pet owners had superior cardiovascular health, reporting better diets, more physical activity, lower blood sugar, and higher HDL cholesterol.

But after running the numbers through the appropriate statistical measures, the researchers could not conclude that it was the pet ownership that caused better heart health, as education level and age seemed to have as big an effect on both owners and non-owners as pet ownership had.

The researchers then compared dog owners with people who owned no pets and with people who owned a pet other than a dog; here, education and age did not interfere with the results.

Dog owners were more likely to engage in physical exercise and eat healthy diets. They were also more likely to have a lower waist circumference and a higher HDL cholesterol score.

Therefore, pet ownership in general may not be healthy for your heart, but dog ownership certainly is.

But your dog alone won’t cure your cholesterol. For that, you need to cut out this ONE ingredient you didn’t even know you were consuming…

And if your blood pressure is too high, discover how three easy exercises drop your blood pressure below 120/80 — starting today…