heart health

CHICAGO – Older adults who take the diabetes medication rosiglitazone appear to have a higher risk of death and heart failure than those taking the related medication pioglitazone, according to a report in Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. In 1997, a new class of oral medications known as thiazolidinediones expanded the available options for diabetes Read more...

MAYWOOD -- The temperature might not be the only thing plummeting this winter. Many people also will experience a decrease in their vitamin D levels, which can play a role in heart disease, according to a new review article in Circulation. Vitamin D deficiency results in part from reduced exposure to sunlight, which is common during cold weather months when days are shorter and more time is Read more...

Turn on that radio! A new study reveals that listening to your favorite music may be good for your cardiovascular system. Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore have shown for the first time that the emotions aroused by joyful music have a healthy effect on blood vessel function. Music, selected by study participants because it made them feel good and brought Read more...

An eight-year study of more than 14,000 male physicians found that taking vitamin C and vitamin E did not prevent cardiovascular disease. The findings for vitamin C are not surprising given the results of numerous studies that reached the same conclusion, says Howard Sesso, a professor at Harvard Medical School and lead author of the study, to be published Wednesday in the Journal of the Read more...

Could eating grapes help fight high blood pressure related to a salty diet? And could grapes calm other factors that are also related to heart diseases such as heart failure? A new University of Michigan Cardiovascular Center study suggests so. The new study, published in the October issue of the Journal of Gerontology: Biological Sciences, gives tantalizing clues to the potential of grapes Read more...

Several new studies have shown that those prone to chronic worry and stress were three to four times more likely to be diagnosed with heart problems, and have a 53 percent increased risk for high blood pressure and stroke. Cardiologist and medical researcher Jerome E. Granato, M.D., author of Living With Coronary Heart Disease, notes that worrying about situations that we have no control Read more...

If employees feel ambiguous about their work role and there is a lack of clear communication, it may increase heart attack risk, Finnish researchers said. An 18-year study in Finland examined the possible link between job-control factors and heart attacks -- acute myocardial infarction -- among 7,663 private-sector employees. "The risk of myocardial infarction was about 1.8 times Read more...

Oct. 27 -- Physicians can control blood pressure much better when patients take readings throughout the day, not just at the doctor's office, according to a position paper to be published next month by the University of Connecticut Health Center. Pressure can now be self-checked fairly easily with inexpensive devices that both inflate a sensing cuff and record readings, doctors said. Read more...

MUNICH, Germany -- Women typically get heart disease much later than men, but not if they smoke, researchers said Tuesday. In fact, women who smoke have heart attacks nearly 14 years earlier than women who don't smoke, Norwegian doctors reported in a study presented to the European Society of Cardiology. For men, the gap is not so dramatic; male smokers have heart attacks about six years earlier Read more...

A new study provides the perfect excuse to pour another glass of Pinot Grigio. Experts say white wine is just as healthy for the heart as red. Rats given a tipple of Italian white wine with their meals suffered less heart attack damage than animals allowed only water or raw grain alcohol. The benefits were similar to those seen in animals fed red wine, or its "wonder" grape-skin Read more...