High Fructose Corn Syrup Is An Ingredient for Hypertension
Individuals who consume a diet high in corn syrup increase their risk of developing high blood pressure, according to findings published in a paper presented at the American Society of Nephrology's Annual Meeting. The findings suggest that cutting back on processed foods and beverages that contain high fructose corn syrup may help prevent the onset of hypertension.
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Dentists Can Identify Those At Risk for Heart Disease
Dentists can play a potentially life-saving role in health care by identifying patients at risk of fatal heart attacks and referring them to physicians for further evaluation, according a new study published in the Journal of the American Dental Association. The study followed 200 patients in private dental practices in Sweden whose dentists used a computerized system, "HeartScore," to calculate the risk of a patient dying from a cardiovascular event within a 10-year period.
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Salt - The Next Food Villain
Saturated fat, sugar, tobacco... and now salt. The medical field has now put sodium chloride, our most popular condiment, in its sights.
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Mend a Broken Heart
Mend a Broken Heart
Dr. Arlen Fleisher is a leading heart surgeon in Westchester County, New York. Seven years ago he founded a remarkable organization "The Mend a Broken Heart Foundation (MBHF). MBHF is a voluntary organization dedicated to saving the lives of children form around the world who suffer with life-threatening heart problems. Other key players in the organization are William Deluca, President of the Mend a Broken Heart Foundation and senior Vice President of Manhattan Beer, as well as Board members Michael Pisacreta and Al Greco.
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High Caffeine Consumption Linked to Arrhythmias
Coffee is the most widely consumed behaviorally active substance in the world. It's composed of several hundred compounds including antioxidants, carbohydrates, lipids, viatamins, minerals, phenolic compounds and alkaloids. However, caffeine has been the only substance to have effects on the cardiovascular system. Though acute and chronic caffeine consumption can have minor negative health consequences, high levels of caffeine intake has been linked to ventricular arrhythmias.
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Heart Failure Alarmingly High Among Under-50 African Ameicans
Heart disease in America, once thought to be the exclusive province of the elderly, is occurring more and more among younger age groups - and overwhelmingly among African Americans, according to a recent study that was the first large-scale effort to reveal the extent of the race gap in heart disease.
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Limiting Scar Tissue Following a Heart Attack
Scientists appear to have taken a first step toward creating a gene therapy to prevent the heart-hardening fibrous scar tissue that replaces the dead muscle left by a heart attack.
The findings, published in the journal Nature Cell Biology, suggest there is a protein that plays a crucial role in the formation of post-heart-attack heart scars, and that the production of this protein is regulated by a single gene.
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Low-Carb Diets Linked to Plaque Buildup
Though low-carb/high-protein diets have been proven to be successful for weight loss, there have been few studies examining the diets' long-term vascular effects. Now, a study from Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center provides new data on the subject, demonstrating that mice placed on a 12-week low carb/high protein diet showed a significant increase in atherosclerosis 9 a buildup of plaque in the heart's arteries and the chief cause of heart attacks and stroke. They also found that the diet led to impaired abililty to form new blood vessels in tissues deprived of blood flow.
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Expert Commentary: Robert Kritzler MD 11/06/09
Diabetes mellitus affects close to 21 million Americans, both children and adults, representing over 7 percent of the US population (source: American Diabetes Association 2009). Unfortunately, close to one-third of these individuals are unaware that they have the disease. They may be in a pre-diabetic phase or, if actually diabetic, do not have symptoms. Awareness among that one-third is as important as compliance, since lifestyle modification can largely prevent the onset of the disease. Within the other two- thirds, many are not getting the treatment they need.
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More Evidence That Fish Oil Aids Heart Health
Omega-3 fatty acids from fish or fish oil supplements not only help prevent cardiovascular diseases in healthy individuals, but also reduce the incidence of deadly cardiac events in patients with existing heart disease, according to new research published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
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