Heart Disease
March 27, 2013
Mediterranean Diet, Olive Oil, Nuts Beat BRPPS for Health
The NE Journal (2/25/13) published a study from Spain that showed that overweight middle-aged people at high risk for stroke, heart attack or death from cardiovascular disease can reduce that risk by almost 30% with a "Mediterranean" diet compared to a diet higher in starch but lower in fruits, vegetables and legumes, olive oil and…
January 31, 2013
Eggs Are Back! Had They Ever Left?
The British Medical Journal (www.bmj.com) just reported that a review of studies of egg consumption determined that there was no increase in heart attacks or strokes related to regular eating of eggs.
September 10, 2011
Butter Is Delicious: Can We Use It Safely?
Butter is tasty and a reasonable part of a heart-healthy diet when used judiciously. Keeping butter at room temperature makes it easier to use small amounts of butter effectively.
August 28, 2011
All Hail the Tomato
August is harvest. Tomatoes are queen, but heirloom tomatoes are the true royalty.
March 2, 2009
The Grapefruit Juice Conundrum
Grapefruit juice impairs the breakdown of some important drugs, such as statins, but it is not an all or none issue. Small amounts may be reasonable.
March 2, 2009
Vitamins Do Not Reduce Death, Cancer or Heart Disease
Multivitamin use does not reduce the overall death rate nor the risk of cardiovascular disease nor most common cancers, according to recent results from the Women's Health Initiative, which studies over 160,000 postmenopausal women.
November 23, 2008
The JUPITER Study and Your Cardiovascular Risk
The JUPITER study (just published in the New England Journal of Medicine) solidly demonstrates that treatment of healthy middle-age and older people with low cholesterol values but elevated levels of an inflammatory marker (high-sensitivity CRP) with a powerful statin (Crestor) can substantially reduce the incidence of heart attacks, strokes and death. We need to reconsider…
June 29, 2008
Cardiac CTA v. Cardiac Calcium Score
The NYTimes today had an excellent and long piece on the use and probable overuse of the cardiac CT angiogram. The essence of the argument was that the CT angiogram of the heart was only occasionally helpful while costly in money and radiation exposure. The cardiac calcium score, which I have and continue to recommend…
February 28, 2008
Cardiac Calcium Score Helps Define Women’s Cardiac Risk
The Study: A superb study concerning the cardiac calcium score was published in December 2007 in the Archives of Internal Medicine. It looked at about 3600 women aged 45 to 84 who were considered to be at low risk of heart disease (less than 10% chance in the next decade) according to the Framingham Risk…