By Wendy Haaf
Since the Heart and Stroke Foundation (HSF) published a 2018 report outlining the sex-specific gaps Canadian women face in awareness, research, diagnosis, treatment, and access to care for cardiovascular disease, the organization has made women’s heart and brain health a priority. The progress they’ve made thus far includes:
• establishing the position of vice-president of Health Equity and Mission Impact to try to understand how to reach communities disadvantaged by social determinants of health, such as low income and living in neighbourhoods with little or no access to healthy food and green space;
• launching a digital information hub for women;
• investing $5 million over five years (in partnership with the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and Brain Canada) to create two national research networks of excellence in women’s heart and brain health;
• a $10-million USD investment over five years in an international network intended to transform impact and research for women.
In addition, all major funders of cardiovascular-health research in Canada now require funded researchers to include sex and gender in study design, analysis, and reporting unless the research focuses specifically on men. And HSF is leading the launch of an international research competition (together with 12 partners around the world) focused on women’s cardiovascular health.
“What’s really exciting is that Canada is recognized as a key leader in women’s heart and brain health and sex and gender research,” says Christine Faubert, HSF’s vice-president of Health Equity and Mission Impact.
HSF-funded researcher Glen Pyle says the organization is doing an excellent job of raising awareness regarding women’s heart and brain health, but much greater public investment is still needed. “People see that as a cost, but there have been studies showing that for every dollar you invest in research on women’s health, you get a 40-fold return that comes from improving women’s health—lower health-care costs and longer, more productive lives,” he says.
“It’s also an equity issue. Less than 10 per cent of the federal research budget in Canada is directed to women’s health, which means 90 per cent is dedicated to men’s health.” (It’s worth noting that the majority of funding for women’s health research goes towards reproductive health.) What’s more, Pyle adds, historically the overwhelming majority of study participants have been males, so “when we look at patients, we’re making decisions based on studies that look at non-females.”
New Study: Soy Safe for Post-Menopausal Women
University of Toronto researchers have debunked a myth linking soy consumption and cancer, finding that the estrogen-like compounds (isoflavones) in soy have no effect on tissues that are sensitive to the actual hormone and therefore don’t pose the same risk for estrogen-sensitive cancers. The researchers analyzed 40 randomized controlled trials that compared the effects of taking isoflavones to placebo for at least three months in more than 3,000 women.
In particular, scientists focused on four measurements, including thickness of the uterine lining and levels of circulating estrogen. The soy compounds had no effect on any of these estrogen-related markers.
Not only is soy safe for post-menopausal women but Health Canada has recognized its consumption as effective in reducing the risk for heart disease. (Source: Advances in Nutrition)
