Cardiovascular Disease Articles

A cup of steaming hot chocolate usually invokes visions of an après-ski drink in a cozy mountain chalet. But what about drinking cocoa to get a lower blood pressure reading in your doctor’s office? In the first observational study of its kind, a recent long-term clini...

Leading cardiologists, including Dean Ornish, MD, have helped increase the popularity of yoga by touting its ability to assist in preventing and managing heart disease. Now investigators at the Center for the Study of Complementary and Alternative Therapies at the ...

A recent meta-analysis of research on different types of nuts indicates that almonds, pecans, peanuts and walnuts can lower cholesterol levels. This finding confirms the results of previous studies, which linked nuts to a reduced risk of cardiovascular disease and improved longevity. Appearing in the September 2005 issue of the Journal of Nutrition, the study reviewed ...

News stories are filled with incidents of cardiac arrest after earthquakes, fires and other traumatic events. What has puzzled researchers is that sometimes the victims do not have underlying heart disease. A recent study, published in Psychosomatic Medicine (2005; [67], 359–65), suggests that emotional stress may trigger unexplained, or what is referred to as “idiopath...

Gaining weight during childhood apparently takes a heavy toll on future heart health. According to a report in the November 23, 2004, issue of Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association, obesity that starts in childhood is a consistent predictor of an overdeveloped left ventricle of the heart in early adulthood. The researchers followed 467 children for an average o...

NCEP Updates Treatment Guidelines for Cholesterol The National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) has updated its treatment guidelines for cholesterol, suggesting that people at risk for heart attack and stroke would benefit from more intensive cholesterol-lowering therapies.

Grundy, S.M., et al. 2004. Definition of metabolic syndrome: Report of the NIH/ AHA conference on scientific issues related to definition. Circulation, 109, 433–8.

Women are at unique risk for certain nutrition-related diseases and conditions. Many of these diseases and conditions are caused by unhealthy lifestyle behaviors that may be preventable if women are given correct advice and information. To assist health professionals in educating this group about healthful eating habits and other lifestyle choices, the American Dietetic Association (ADA) and the Dietitians of Canada have released a new Position Paper on nutrition and women’s health.

Fortifying grain products with folic acid was originally intended to reduce the incidents of birth defects. Now a new study indicates that folic acid fortification may also have a considerable effect on cardiovascular disease, preventing an estimated 31,000 deaths from stoke and 17,000 deaths from heart disease each year.

Previous research has found that people who have had heart failure can benefit from exercise in hospital-based programs on equipment such as bicycle ergometers. However, Teresita Corvera-Tindel, RN, PhD, and colleagues note that this equipment might not always be available to patients. To see how patients would benefit from home-based walking regimens, they studied the impact of a progressive 12-week program.