Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c): What to know if you have diabetes or prediabetes or are at risk for these conditions
What could be causing your blurry vision?
Avocado nutrition: Health benefits and easy recipes
Swimming lessons save lives: What parents should know
Preventing and treating iliotibial (IT) band syndrome: Tips for pain-free movement
Wildfires: How to cope when smoke affects air quality and health
What can magnesium do for you and how much do you need?
Dry socket: Preventing and treating a painful condition that can occur after tooth extraction
What happens during sleep — and how to improve it
How is metastatic prostate cancer detected and treated in men over 70?
Heart Health Archive
Articles
Vegetarian diet linked to lower stroke risk
Research we're watching
Eating a vegetarian diet may lower your risk of stroke, according to a study in the March 17 issue of Neurology.
The study included two groups of people from Buddhist communities in Taiwan, where vegetarian diets are encouraged. About 30% of the more than 130,000 participants were vegetarian, meaning they didn't eat any meat or fish. Their average age was 50, and none had a prior stroke.
Treatments for a stiff, narrow aortic valve
Ask the doctor
Q. I'm 74, and my doctor says severe aortic stenosis is causing me to feel breathless and faint, and that I need treatment soon: either surgery or something called TAVR. Neither sounds particularly appealing. Can't I just take medicine?
A. The heart pumps blood through the aortic valve and out to the rest of the body. With severe aortic stenosis, the aortic valve gets stiff and narrow, and the heart can't pump enough blood to the body. That's a problem.
Two clot-prevention drugs for people with heart disease and diabetes?
Research we're watching
People with clogged arteries in their hearts (coronary artery disease) or legs (peripheral artery disease) face a high risk of having a heart attack or stroke, particularly if they also have diabetes. For such people, a combination of clot-preventing drugs lowers the risk of those dangerous outcomes, according to a study published online March 28 by the journal Circulation.
The study included just over 18,300 people with coronary or peripheral artery disease; about 38% also had diabetes. They all took low-dose aspirin daily, but half also took 2.5 milligrams of rivaroxaban (Xarelto) twice daily while the others took a placebo. Like aspirin, rivaroxaban helps discourage blood clots, but through a different mechanism.
CoQ10 supplements unlikely to benefit statin users
Research we're watching
Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) is a vitamin-like substance made naturally by the body that's needed for energy production within muscle cells. It's also sold as a dietary supplement and touted for its ability to prevent muscle-related side effects linked to cholesterol-lowering statins. But a new review finds no evidence for that alleged benefit.
Researchers combed through 431 published reports involving statins and CoQ10. They included just seven studies that met specific criteria, which included studies that compared CoQ10 to a placebo in adults who reported muscle pain while taking statins. (Around 10% of people taking statins report muscle aches or pains, although the true incidence of this problem isn't entirely clear.)
Can hot baths protect your heart?
News briefs
Taking a warm bath helps soothe aching joints, wash away stress, and promote sleep. Now, a study published online March 24, 2020, by the journal Heart suggests that daily hot baths are also associated with better heart health. Researchers analyzed self-reported health and lifestyle information from more than 30,000 middle-aged people in Japan. Participants responded to a questionnaire at the start of the study and were then followed for about 20 years. Compared with people who didn't take a tub bath more than twice a week, people who took a daily warm or hot bath had a 28% lower risk of cardiovascular disease and a 26% lower risk of stroke. The study is only observational and doesn't prove that daily tub bathing staves off heart problems. But previous research has shown that the effects of tub bathing on the body are similar to those of exercise. Use caution, however: taking baths in very hot water is also tied to sudden death due to overheating, confusion, or drowning. If you're going to take a bath, keep the temperature comfortable and don't risk overheating. Finally, this study says nothing about the possible cardiovascular benefits of hot showers.
Image: © JohnnyGreig/Getty Images
Afib: Rhythm or rate control
Ask the doctor
Q. I was diagnosed with atrial fibrillation and my cardiologist prescribed metoprolol [Lopressor], which I understand is also used to treat angina. But I rarely have any chest pain. I was wondering if I should instead be getting another kind of medication to treat my condition?
A. During a bout of atrial fibrillation (afib), the heart beats very rapidly and irregularly. As a result, the heart may not pump effectively, which may cause symptoms such as breathlessness and fatigue. These episodes may be occasional and fleeting, or they may last hours, days, months, or even years.
Your heart’s best friend: A canine companion?
These popular pets have been linked to a range of heart-related benefits.
Seeing a dog's wagging tail and furry face can be heartwarming. But living with and caring for a dog may be heart-protecting — and might even help you live longer, according to a growing body of research.
The latest findings include two articles published last year in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes. One pooled findings from 10 studies involving a total of 3.8 million people who were followed between one and 22 years. Dog owners were 31% less likely to die from a heart attack, stroke, or other cardiovascular condition than people who didn't own dogs. A separate study, which followed more than 335,000 heart attack and stroke survivors over 12 years, found that having a dog was linked to a 21% lower risk of death from any cause.
A closer look at your coronary arteries
The blood vessels that supply your heart may narrow as you age. But there are many myths about this common condition.
To 17th-century anatomy experts, the arteries encircling the heart apparently resembled a crown, which is why they are known as the coronary arteries (from the Latin word corona, meaning wreath or crown). They emerge from the aorta, the body's largest artery, and dive into the muscle of the heart, nourishing the organ with blood and oxygen.
Healthy young children have flexible, elastic arteries. But over time, the heart's arteries can gradually stiffen and narrow, as cholesterol-laden plaque builds up inside their walls. This condition, coronary artery disease, is responsible for the heart attacks that strike somewhere in the United States roughly every 40 seconds.
Getting into the swing of golf
This low-impact, lifelong sport can be a good way to exercise, socialize, and enjoy nature — three factors linked to lower heart disease risk.
Famously described as "a good walk spoiled," golf is nonetheless a popular sport in the United States, played by an estimated 25 million Americans. And one could argue that rather than spoiling a nice walk, the game instead provides a good way for people of all ages to be physically active and reap other heart-related rewards.
"You're outdoors in a beautiful place with three friends and no phones or computer screens," says Dr. James Muller, a cardiologist at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital. In today's world, people are often stuck behind their screens and lose touch with their in-person social community. Playing golf helps to remedy that problem.
What can at-home genetic tests tell you about heart-related risks?
The results reveal only limited information about your risk for abnormally high cholesterol or harmful blood clots.
About 30 million Americans have used direct-to-consumer genetic tests such as 23andMe and Ancestry. While some are simply curious about their ethnic heritage, many pay extra to learn about their propensity for certain diseases and conditions. But can the results tell you anything useful about your odds of developing heart disease, the nation's leading killer?
When it comes to coronary artery disease — by far the most common form of heart disease — the answer is maybe, says Dr. Pradeep Natarajan, director of preventive cardiology at Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts General Hospital. "Genetics are just one aspect of a person's risk. Lifestyle habits such as smoking, diet, and exercise play a bigger role," he says.
Hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c): What to know if you have diabetes or prediabetes or are at risk for these conditions
What could be causing your blurry vision?
Avocado nutrition: Health benefits and easy recipes
Swimming lessons save lives: What parents should know
Preventing and treating iliotibial (IT) band syndrome: Tips for pain-free movement
Wildfires: How to cope when smoke affects air quality and health
What can magnesium do for you and how much do you need?
Dry socket: Preventing and treating a painful condition that can occur after tooth extraction
What happens during sleep — and how to improve it
How is metastatic prostate cancer detected and treated in men over 70?
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