While a heart-healthy diet has become synonymous with plenty of fruits and vegetables and little fat and cholesterol, there’s more to the story. Omega-3 fatty acids should be part of a heart-healthy diet, too, according to the August issue of Mayo Clinic Health Letter.
Soluble fiber ? from beans, some fruits and even coffee ? may help lower low-density lipoprotein (LDL) or “bad” cholesterol and blood sugar and may help protect against heart attack and stroke.
When it comes to boosting antioxidant intake, recent research indicates there’s little benefit from taking diet supplements. A better way, according to a report in the September issue of Mayo Clinic Health Letter, is eating a diet rich in antioxidant-containing foods.
Better use should be made of electronic databases and patient records to help scientists understand patterns of health and disease in the population, say leading UK funders. However, they warn that it is essential to develop such studies in consultation with the public. Their call comes at the launch of a new initiative to support research that uses such information for health research purposes.
A partnership between Kent State University, Summa Health System and IC-MedTech Inc. has yielded an innovative liquid crystal technology that offers the promise of new drugs which may more effectively manage cancer and other diseases.
People with type 2 diabetes are more prone to have some heart disease, high blood pressure or stroke. Using a combination of diuretics and ACE inhibitors to manage blood pressure in these people with type 2 diabetes can help protect against heart disease, revealed by researchers in a recent worldwide study known as ADVANCE.
Patients who stop taking cholesterol-lowering drugs within a year of surviving a stroke had a two-fold increased risk of death, researchers reported in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.
A study to be published in an upcoming edition of the Scandinavian Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology reveals that Pycnogenol, pine bark extract from the French maritime pine tree, reduces “climacteric symptoms” such as hot flashes, depression, panic attacks, cholesterol and other common symptoms associated with women entering menopause transition.
People who stopped taking cholesterol-lowering drugs after being hospitalized for a stroke are at greater risk of death or dependency within three months of the stroke, according to a study published in the Aug. 28, 2007, issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
University of Minnesota researchers have discovered that treating people who have early cardiovascular abnormalities, but show no symptoms of cardiovascular disease, can slow progression and even reverse damage to the heart and blood vessels.