By NATASHA SINGER
The drugs are aimed at people who have a higher than normal risk for clotting or stroke, like patients undergoing hip replacement surgery or those with an irregular heartbeat. ...
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/31/health/research/31drug.html
Published: August 03, 2010
Researchers say too much cholesterol isn't safe -- at any age.
And a recent study suggests it really does matter what you eat and how much you exercise in your 20s and 30s.
How come? A heart-healthy diet and regular exercise can lower LDL, or "bad" cholesterol. That's the stuff that can really clog up arteries that feed the heart. And, it turns out, the clogging process starts early.
So it's never too soon to start being nicer to your heart. Seems obvious, right? But researchers say the medical community hasn't fully appreciated the consequences of high cholesterol during young adulthood.
Now, though, a study in the Annals of Internal Medicine sheds some interesting light on how plaques build up.
Researchers found individuals who had moderate or high levels of bad cholesterol or lower levels of HDL, the good cholesterol, as young adults were more likely to develop spots of calcium in plaques of their coronary arteries. Those calcium deposits can be seen by a CT scanner and are a marker for heart disease.
Bottom line: 44 percent of people with abnormal cholesterol in their 20s developed coronary calcium by their mid-40s, compared with only 8 percent of those with normal cholesterol levels.
The study began in 1985 and involved healthy, young men and women in their 20s. Researchers followed the nearly 3,300 people for two decades. Researchers measured cholesterol levels and triglycerides (blood fat) over the 20 years.
The work was funded by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. [Copyright 2010 National Public Radio]
If you want an idea of how long you'll live, take a good hard look at your waistline the next time you're in front of a mirror.
Researchers from the American Cancer Society say people with large waists have twice the risk of death compared to those with small waists. The researchers defined large waists as more than 47 inches for men and greater than 42 inches for the ladies.
The results held up even for those who had a normal weight for their height. The findings were just published online by the Archives of Internal Medicine.
What's going on? Extra inches at the waist mean more fat tissue deep in the abdomen, explains lead author Eric J. Jacobs.
Previous research has shown that fat in the abdomen doubled a person's risk of death from many causes, including cancer, stroke and heart disease. A big waistline is a better indicator of health risks than body mass index (BMI), the usual measure for obesity, according to some research.
The recent study followed thousands of men and women for nine years, but had a few shortcomings. All of the people were 50 or older, and nearly all were white.
Jacobs says there's no reason to expect radically different results in other ethnicities and that researchers have shown similar results in younger people. His advice: "Watch your waist as well as your weight." [Copyright 2010 National Public Radio]
- excess dietary salt
- excess alcohol intake
- stress
- age
- genetics and family history
- obesity
- physical inactivity
- high saturated fat diet
Before you pop that calcium supplement, you might want to talk to your doctor.
A new analysis out in the British Medical Journal says calcium supplements may increase the risk of heart attack by 30 percent.
Calcium supplements have become practically de rigueur components of the pill boxes of 50-something women. They've been touted as a simple way to improve bone density and help guard against fractures for both genders.
The researchers suggest that while the increased risk is small, the widespread use of calcium supplements makes it a pretty big deal.
"Even a small increase in incidence of cardiovascular disease could translate into a large burden of disease in the population," the researchers conclude.
"The risks outweigh the benefits," Professor Ian Reid at the University of Auckland, who headed up the analysis team, told NutraIngredients.com.
Another researcher, Alison Avenell, told the BBC that taking the supplements is a matter of "balancing risks."
The analysis also suggested the supplements might slightly increase hip fractures and have only a modest overall effect on reducing all kinds of fractures.
But cardiologist John Cleland of the Hull York Medical School in England told WebMD that the analysis is "concerning but not convincing."
He said he was surprised that there was no increase in deaths, only heart attacks.
The analysis looked at data from 11,000 people pooled across 12 different calcium clinical trials from the last 20 years. They were aged 40 and up.
It specifically excluded patients given calcium supplements plus Vitamin D supplements. Vitamin D deficiency has been linked to increased risk of heart problems, and is being studied separately.
And, it did not find an increase in heart attacks among those who boosted their calcium the old-fashioned way, through food.
Reid suggests that this could be related to higher blood calcium levels found in supplements, which can lead to hardening of the arteries, which can then cause heart attacks.
"Food remains the best source of calcium. Calcium supplements should only be used when adequate dietary intake cannot be achieved," a spokeswoman for the National Osteoporosis Foundation told Shots.
The U.S. Recommended Daily Allowance for calcium for adult men and women is 800 to 1200 mg per day. For those under 50, it's up to 1,000 mg.
That's a lot of milk, salmon, cheese and sardines.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this post grouped prescription Fosamax, Boniva and Actonel in with calcium supplements. These products are not calcium supplements, although they are often prescribed along with calcium supplements to help prevent osteoporosis. [Copyright 2010 National Public Radio]
