heart disease news stories on Newser

Raising 'Good Cholesterol' Might Not Help

John Johnson — Wed, 16 May 2012 18:42:00 CDT

If you've been diligently working to raise your levels of "good cholesterol" to maintain a healthy heart, a study in the Lancet has some sobering news: You might be wasting your time. It's true that high levels of the cholesterol, called HDL, are associated with a lower risk of heart...

Why You Should Add Spices to High-Fat Meals

Evann Gastaldo — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 12:33:07 CDT

Planning to eat a high-fat meal? Load it up with garlic and oregano. A new Penn State study finds that heavily spiced meals help to cut triglycerides, which put you at risk for heart disease—and that the effect is seen even in meals using lots of oil or fat....

Heart Drug Curbs Racism

Rob Quinn — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 03:23:00 CST

Could popping pills make racists change their ways? British researchers claim that a common heart drug significantly reduces racist attitudes. White volunteers given small doses of the beta blocker propranolol scored lower than a control group on a test designed to measure subconscious racist attitudes, the Telegraph reports. The Oxford...

Why Do More Men Get Heart Disease? Blame Dad

Kevin Spak — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:36:58 CST

Men represent about two-thirds of heart disease sufferers, and a new study offers a possible hint as to why—men with a certain genetic ancestry were 50% more likely to be afflicted. The study analyzed 3,233 white UK men and examined their male Y chromosomes, which are passed down...

Fried Food Doesn't Cause Heart Attacks

Kevin Spak — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 12:04:05 CST

Good news grease lovers: Fry your food right, and you might not die of a heart attack after all. A new study in the British Medical Journal has upended conventional wisdom by finding no correlation between how often participants ate fried foods and how likely they were to develop heart...

Heart Patients Told Sex Is Safe—but Not Affairs

Rob Quinn — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 04:23:33 CST

Having sex is safe for the vast majority of heart patients as long as they use a little common sense, according to a report from the American Heart Association. Fewer than 1% of heart attacks are linked to sex and patients cleared for physical activity and capable of climbing two...

Save Your Heart: Walk Before the Big Meal

Rob Quinn — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 03:01:43 CST

The best time to walk off a gut-busting Thanksgiving dinner is at least 12 hours before you eat it, researchers say. Studies have found that light exercise, like a half-hour walk, done 12 to 16 hours before a big meal significantly reduces the post-meal spike in a type of fat...

Beer Can Be Good For Your Heart

Kevin Spak — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 11:38:05 CST

Bottoms up, beer lovers, because wine fans aren’t the only ones who get to rationalize their drinking habits anymore! Researchers examining 16 studies involving some 200,000 participants have concluded that drinking about a pint of beer a day reduces your risk of heart disease by an average of 31%,...

Doctors Giving Too Many Angioplasties

Kevin Spak — Wed, 06 Jul 2011 15:25:05 CDT

Doctors are performing too many angioplasty procedures on patients who haven’t had heart attacks, according to a new study. Around 600,000 angioplasties are performed each year, of which roughly 70% are performed on heart attack victims. Those are fine, the study concludes, but of the remaining 30%, half were...