News and Features Related to Heart Health

1. Vegetable Protein Lowers Blood Pressure
   

   July 6, 2009 - A new study shows that an amino acid known as glutamic acid, which is found in greater amounts in vegetable protein, is associated with lower blood pressure.   This builds on other research linking higher intake of vegetable protein to lower blood pressure. Researchers say the finding

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2. Muscle Damage From Statins May Evade Blood Test
   

   July 6, 2009 - Statin users with prolonged statin-related muscle pain may also experience muscle damage, even when a blood test used to identify muscle injury is normal, new research shows. Studies suggest that between 10% and 15% of patients who take cholesterol-lowering statin drugs like Crestor,

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3. Amazing Facts About Heart Health and Heart Disease
   

   You can feel your heart thudding away every time you put your hand to your chest, but do you have any idea what’s really going on in there or what keeps your heart ticking as it should? WebMD Magazine asked Richard Krasuski, MD, director of Adult Congenital Heart Disease Services and a staff cardiol

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4. Cholesterol OK? Statins Still Help Heart
   

   July 1, 2009 -- Millions of people without established heart disease could benefit from cholesterol-lowering statin therapy even if they don't have high cholesterol, a new analysis suggests. Combined data from 10 trials that included more than 70,000 patients without cardiovascular disease, but with

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5. CRP Test May Not Predict Heart Disease
   

   June 30, 2009 -- CRP, once blamed as being one of the body's bad guys, doesn't cause heart disease -- and CRP tests aren't much help in predicting heart disease, new studies show. Blood levels of CRP -- C-reactive protein -- rise when there is inflammation in the body. Chronic inflammation plays a m

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6. White-Coat Hypertension Not Benign
   

   June 29, 2009 -- New research suggests that approximately one in six adults exhibit "white-coat" hypertension, meaning that their blood pressure is high when their doctor checks it, but normal the rest of the time. Additionally, close to one in 10 people have a less well understood condition known a

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7. Michael Jackson Dies of Reported Cardiac Arrest
   

   June 25, 2009 -- Pop star Michael Jackson has died at age 50 after suffering a cardiac arrest, according to media reports. Los Angeles TV station KTLA reports that Los Angeles fire officials said they responded to a 911 call at Jackson's home and that Jackson wasn't breathing when they arrived; para

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8. Help for High-Risk Heart Attacks
   

   June 24, 2009 -- Patients who have a heart attack and receive clot-busting drugs do better if they are transferred as soon as possible to a hospital that can perform angioplasty, a procedure to open blocked arteries, according to a new study. That treatment approach works better than giving clot-bus

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9. Red Yeast Rice May Lower Cholesterol
   

   June 17, 2009 -- By some estimates, as many as 10% of people who take cholesterol-lowering statins experience troubling muscle pain, and many stop taking the drugs because of it. Now a new study suggests that a dietary supplement sold in nutrition centers and grocery stores may be a useful alternati

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10. Cholesterol and Cooking: Fats and Oils
    

    When you're cooking to lower cholesterol, you might think that fat is a four-letter word.  But nutrition experts say that ridding your cooking of all fats and oils may actually work against efforts to lower your blood cholesterol levels.  When it comes to fat, what counts are both quality and quanti

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