Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles for the creation of The Barbra Streisand Women’s Cardiovascular Research and Education Program. She later launched an online fundraising campaign with the goal of raising an additional $5 million (
crowdrise.com/barbrastreisand). “When I learned of Barbra’s gift,
I was really overwhelmed, knowing how much could be done with such a major endowment,” says C. Noel Bairey Merz, MD, director of Cedars-Sinai’s Women’s Heart Center. “It’s an amazingly powerful use of her icon status to do this good work for women across the nation and internationally.” Streisand says she’s particularly
and educated about heart disease. And their work is helping women everywhere,” says Streisand. However, cardiac researchers aren’t the only ones with important work to do, she says. Women can do a lot to help their own hearts, but even she admits that a heart-healthy lifestyle isn’t always easy to follow.
1 in 7
For postmenopausal women, that number rises to 1 in 3.
heart disease
premenopausal women die of
.
committed to promoting research that will help erase the 50-year gender gap in our knowledge and understanding of heart disease. “Women need—and deserve—heart care specific to female hearts,” she says. “Women with heart problems need cardiovascular screening, risk assessment, and diagnostic testing designed for women. Otherwise, they can be misdiagnosed, with disastrous consequences.” The studies being conducted at Cedars-Sinai
Women’s Heart Center earn high praise from the performer. “Few institutions in the country are so focused on how heart disease presents itself differently in women. The Center is changing how women are diagnosed, treated,
“Because I have been performing in front of the camera or in front of a live audience for all these years, I have always been conscious about what I put into my body,” Streisand told fellow actress and activist Marlo Thomas in an interview published on Thomas’s website in early 2011. “But food is a passion for me, so it’s never been easy to say no to dessert or avoid the breadbasket sitting on the table.” Streisand told Thomas she tries
to do everything in moderation, and works out
consistently. “The more I learn from Dr. Merz and talk to friends who have reversed their own heart disease, I realize nutrition and exercise are key factors to having and maintaining a healthy heart,” Streisand said recently. Although Merz has nothing but the utmost respect
for Streisand and her involvement in the cause, she adds: “As amazing and powerful as Barbra Streisand is, she can’t do it alone. None of us can. This is a big call to action for all women. Know your history. Talk to your mother, talk to your daughter. See your physician, get checked, and know your numbers.”
What you need to know about menopause and heart health
Doctors at Cedars-Sinai’s Women’s Heart Center advise all women who are approaching or in menopause to keep these points in mind:
1. Blood cholesterol levels can often change for the worse within six months to a year from the onset of menopause, which on average is at age 51.
2. The risk of high blood pressure triples with menopause; after age 55, more women than men have elevated blood pressure.
3. Before considering hormone therapy for menopausal symptoms, a woman should talk with her doctor about any heart health risks she may have. (For more information on heart disease and hormone therapy, refer to The Smart Woman’s Guide to Hormone Therapy, page 10.)
8 pause FALL / WINTER 2011
“Women need—and deserve—
heart car
specific to female hearts.”
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