Heart Attack
If You Are on Medicare & Overweight You May…
Juliette Cubanski, Tricia Neuman, Nolan Sroczynski, and Anthony Damico Published: Apr 24, 2024 This article was originally published on the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) website at this link. The FDA…
Sitting Sabotages Good Health
Some health experts have taken to calling sitting the new smoking. In other words, a sedentary lifestyle puts you are significant risk for poor cardiovascular outcomes. How Can We Counteract the Risks…
How Helpful Are Beta Blockers After Heart Attack…
Beta blockers are among the most trusted and most prescribed drugs in the pharmacy. This category of medications includes atenolol (Tenormin), carvedilol (Coreg), metoprolol (Lopressor, Toprol) and th…
Eggs Are Bad – No, Eggs Are Good – Huh?
Starting in the 1960s, Americans were told that eggs were evil. Dietitians warned that too much cholesterol would clog coronary arteries and contribute to heart attacks. Eggs became a sinful food and …
How Does Red Yeast Rice Compare to Statins?
Tens of millions of people take statin-type cholesterol-lowering drugs. Many physicians believe such drugs are dramatically effective against heart disease. We will not deal with that controversial to…
The Never-Ending Egg Dispute Continues
Is it any wonder that Americans are confused about eggs? Fifty or sixty years ago, we were all warned to avoid eggs as if they were poison. After all, they contain cholesterol and doctors assumed that…
Will Vitamin Supplements Prevent Heart Problems?
Does it make sense to take vitamin pills? Keep reading to learn more about a systematic review from several years ago. First, though, we want to address some very confusing recent research that implie…
FDA Approves Heart Benefits for Wegovy Weight Lo…
Obesity is a world-wide problem. It’s no wonder, then, that injectable drugs like semaglutide (Ozempic, Wegovy) and tirzepatide (Mounjaro, Zepbound) have become incredibly popular. Wegovy just got a…
Daily Exercise Boosts Lifespan
Everyone agrees that exercise is beneficial for your health, though not everyone actually participates in daily exercise. Muscle-strengthening exercise, in particular, can reduce the risk of premature…
Do You Have Micro Particles of Plastic in Your A…
Plastic is everywhere! It's found in nearly all packaging of consumer goods. If you want to buy juice, the likelihood is it will be in plastic. Water? Right again! Almost all water bottles are made of…
Are Full-Fat Milk and Cheese Really Risky?
Health professionals and nutritionists have been telling people for decades that full-fat milk and cheese (as well as other dairy products such as yogurt) are bad for the heart. They were sure that th…
Is Lp(a) the Best Kept Secret in Heart Disease?
Ask most people about their risk factors for heart disease and they will likely mention total cholesterol (TC), LDL-C (“bad”) cholesterol and HDL-C (“good”) cholesterol. Sometimes people even …
Mediterranean Diet vs Metabolic Syndrome
A Mediterranean diet that uses olive oil instead of animal fats like butter is widely acknowledged as healthful. In addition to olive oil, Mediterranean diets are rich in whole grains, vegetables and …
What Should You Eat for a Healthy Heart?
How important is diet in the prevention of heart disease? And what exactly should you eat for a healthy heart? Cardiologists have long emphasized the importance of avoiding cholesterol and saturated f…
Can Stopping Aspirin or Eliquis Suddenly Lead to…
Stopping drugs that have anticoagulant properties can be tricky. That's because there can be an increased risk of blood clots after stopping aspirin or apixaban (Eliquis) too fast. But doctors routine…
You Have Likely Been the Victim of Diagnostic Mi…
Some mistakes are worse than others. When Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 had a mid-cabin door plug blow out shortly after takeoff on January 5, 2024, there were a lot of unhappy passengers. The flight wa…
Why Didn’t Statins Protect Dad from Clogge…
Most cardiologists take it as absolute fact that cholesterol is a bad actor in the heart disease saga. They believe that LDL cholesterol in particular is responsible for causing clogged coronary arter…
Healthy Eating Can Help Prevent Heart Disease
We have heard for years that eating a well-balanced diet will have positive health benefits. Three decades of data demonstrate that healthy eating patterns reduce heart disease (JAMA Internal Medicine…
Should Everyone Over 65 Take a Statin to Prevent…
Do statins help older people live longer? That is a question that has been controversial for decades. Tens of millions of people are currently taking a statin-type cholesterol-lowering drug every day.…
Is Cooked Oatmeal Better for You Than Instant Oa…
Oats have been a dietary staple for many centuries, and they have a reputation as a healthy whole grain. Eating cooked oatmeal on a regular basis (daily or several times a week) can help control chole…
Show 1365: Revealing the Secrets of Sudden Cardi…
This week’s interview is on an underappreciated killer, sudden cardiac death. This is not the same thing as a heart attack. Our guest, Dr. Zian Tseng, has been studying cardiac arrest for years to l…
Why You Should Eat the Mediterranean Way
The Mediterranean diet has been associated with a number of health benefits. We have written previously about studies showing that a Mediterranean-style eating plan can protect the brain, reduce arthr…
Wegovy or Ozempic: Semaglutide to Prevent Heart …
A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Nov. 11, 2023 has pumped up an already very hot drug—semaglutide. You know it better as Wegovy for weight loss or Ozempic for type 2 diabete…
Does Loneliness Raise Your Risk for Parkinson Di…
In May 2023, US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy raised the alarm about an epidemic of loneliness. He suggested that up to half of American adults feel isolated and disconnected from social support. The C…
Is Vazalore Safer for the Stomach Than Regular A…
Aspirin can be hard on the digestive tract. Like other NSAIDs such as diclofenac, ibuprofen or naproxen, it may cause indigestion, ulceration, bleeding ulcers or even perforation of the lining of the …
FDA Review of Ancient Drug (Colchicine) Spikes P…
Wild saffron, aka autumn crocus (Colchicum autumnale), has been used for over 3,000 years to ease inflammation. An ancient Egyptian papyrus recorded its use for pain and swelling. A Greek physician us…
Is Lp(a) Contributing to Unexplained Heart Attac…
Are physicians overlooking a key risk factor for heart disease? Is Lp(a) contributing to unexplained heart attacks? For decades, doctors have focused primarily on LDL cholesterol as a determinant of c…
Are Non-Sugar Sweeteners a Healthy Choice?
When people hear that sugar-sweetened beverages pose health hazards, some respond by switching to diet soft drinks. That certainly seems reasonable, but evidence now suggests it might not be the best…
Do Statins Save Lives? Doctors Don’t Agree!
Many people wonder how effective statins are for preventing a heart attack in healthy people with high cholesterol. Even more important, do statins save lives in this population? There are few more co…
Is Aspirin a Miracle or a Menace?
Here’s a quick drug quiz: How many medicines do you know that are over 120 years old, are readily available and cost a few pennies a pill? And that’s for the brand, not the generic. As far as we c…
Will Fish Oil Reduce Your Risk of Heart Disease?
Could fish oil reduce your risk of heart disease? This question has been puzzling scientists for decades. Some studies have shown benefit, while others have been inconclusive (Circulation, April 11, 2…
Why Haven’t You Been Tested for Lp(a) Levels?
Have you tired of reading about Lp(a) and heart disease? I do not blame you, but this risk factor has been ignored for so long that it is time to get caught up. A study published in the Journal of the…
Home Remedies or Drugs? A Surprising Smackdown!
Most health professionals have learned that home remedies are no more than quaint relics of a bygone age. They believe that only pharmaceuticals count as medicine. If the Food and Drug Administration …
How to Help Your Heart with a Mediterranean-Styl…
Are there good ways to promote heart health? A reader wonders whether dietary advice to avoid fat and cholesterol is still valuable, or whether a Mediterranean-style diet would be more helpful. Diet A…
Shingles Vaccines Against Dementia & Flu Sh…
Viral infections cause a lot of mischief! One need look no further than COVID-19 to verify that there can be long-lasting complications after such illnesses. The neuroscience community has long ignore…
Show 1353: Cutting Edge Cardiology from a Top He…
When you think of preventing heart disease, what comes to mind? We hope you envision regular exercise and a healthful diet (whatever that means to you). Perhaps you also plan for regular checkups and …
Is Aspirin Underutilized for Preventing Second H…
Aspirin has a long history, loaded with controversy over its benefits and risks. Chemists originally synthesized the compound, acetylsalicylic acid, in 1899. Very soon thereafter, the Bayer company ma…
Alcohol for Longer Life? How Much Is Enough and …
The benefits and risks of alcohol consumption have been controversial for decades. Some studies have suggested that “moderate” amounts of alcohol have health benefits. In other words, people who d…
How to Stay Healthy with a Mediterranean Diet
Would you like to be able to improve your health by what you put on your plate? Health professionals and patients alike may doubt that diet can be as powerful as pills. When it comes to important bene…
Has the Flip-Flop on Saturated Fat Made Your Hea…
If you are not confused and maybe even exasperated over all the contradictions around food in recent years, we would be amazed. Doctors, just like the rest of us, are challenged by uncertainty. Medica…