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What Not To Eat When You Have Mitral Valve Disease?

There are certain foods that should not be eaten as they can trigger symptoms of heart problems such as palpitations and they should be avoided. Milk and milk products such as cheese, coffee and tea and chocolate should not be eaten can lead to dizziness in many people. Coffee and tea have known to trigger mitral valve prolapse symptoms such as chest pain, increased heart rate and also dizziness.^[1] Soda and soft drinks can increase your blood sugar levels. It can lead to other health issues such as diabetes, asthma, COPD and obesity. Fast foods are addictive and they can lead to coronary artery disease. Too much carbohydrate in your diet can also lead to increased levels of blood glucose that will lead to increase in heart rate.

Limiting the intake of alcohol and cigarette smoking is essential as it is especially bad for your heart that leads to increase in heartbeat.^[2] Smoking is injurious for your lungs and can lead to congestion and fibrosis and also weakens the immune system. Alcohol also affects your heart muscle and also leads to their severe dysfunction even with moderate abuse. Consumption of monosodium glutamate is the main cause of arrhythmias and irregular heartbeats in patients of mitral valve disease.^[3] Therefore, it is important to limit the intake of salt in diet. It further increases the workload on the heart. Stress is another factor that can lead to mitral valve disease symptoms. Practicing yoga and breathing exercises are known to control anger and stress level in a person.

It is also important to take good care of oral hygiene as germs from the oral cavity can reach the heart and further aggravate infection and inflammation.^[4] The outlook for patients of mitral valve disease varies from person to person.

The treatment or prevention of mitral valve disease includes regular tests done by a doctor to check the condition of the heart valve and heart muscles. On the basis of severity of symptoms and additional tests the doctor might prescribe certain medications to control the symptoms and ease them. It is also important to follow a healthy lifestyle and limit sodium in your diet. Certain lifestyle changes that are recommended for you are to quit smoking and staying away from second-hand smoke as well. It is important to eat healthy and limit sodium as it leads to accumulation of fluid in lungs and further leads to stress on the heart. It is also important to remain active but intense activity should be avoided as it might lead to stress on the heart. Maintaining a healthy weight is also important, loss of weight is recommended when you are obese.^[5]

Mitral valve disease is a condition where the mitral valves of the heart do not function properly and lead to backflow or leaking of blood. This leads to extra load on the heart for it has to pump extra hard to circulate blood to the body. The types of mitral valve disease are mitral valve regurgitation, mitral valve stenosis and mitral valve prolapse.^[6] With each heartbeat the blood flows through these valves into the chambers of the heart and from there it is circulated to different parts of the body. Any problem in them will lead to blood not flowing in one direction and the circulation is compromised. This will cause stress on the heart as it will try to pump all the blood to the different parts by working harder thereby causing heart problems.

The mild form of the disease does not usually present with any symptoms, but any forms of risk factors and signs should not be ignored, as it is a progressive disorder and will only increase with age. Sometimes the first symptom does not appear till the age of 50 years or more.^[7] The condition can be prevented and controlled with modification in lifestyle by eating healthy and taking medications regularly to prevent any load on the heart.

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What Not To Eat When You Have Mitral Valve Disease?