Category: Women's cardiac risk factors

– posts here focus on how to address your risk factors to help prevent heart disease

Heart disease brings higher risk for future hip fracture

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 4 Comments

 Swedish twin study reveals possible genetic link

Swedish twin study reveals possible genetic link

Sweden is apparently the place to be if you are a twin.  This country boasts the world’s largest Twin Registry, following over 70,000 pairs of twins born before 1985, with ongoing new studies of younger twins starting when they reach the age of nine.

Right now, over 30 ongoing research projects based on the Twin Registry cover a wide range of topics like aging, dementia, allergy, cancer, and cardiovascular disease. Researchers are also looking at the effects of gender differences on health and life situations.

And the Swedish Twin Registry was recently part of a groundbreaking study to determine whether the risk for hip fracture is increased in people who have cardiovascular disease.  Continue reading “Heart disease brings higher risk for future hip fracture” →

Seven tips from Dr. Oz to prevent a heart attack

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 9 Comments

dr. oz

UPDATE: June 16, 2016:   This 2009 post has been removed after I decided that I cannot in good conscience help in any way to promote physicians who recommend goofy therapies, remedies or unfortunate “miracle in a bottle!” cures (what the watchdog site Respectful Insolence has aptly described as “ranging from fairly pedestrian to pure quackery”).

To find out what Dr. Oz “evidence” is really all about, watch his compelling skewering at the hands of the astute U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill.

 

Omega-3 is no help for depression in heart patients

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 1 Comment

omega 3 pillDepression can strike up to 65% of heart patients following a cardiac event, yet fewer than 10% are appropriately diagnosed  For those in that 10% group, encouraging research in the past has suggested that taking an omega-3 fish oil supplement along with an anti-depressant drug  may boost the clinical effectiveness of that drug for heart patients suffering from depression. But a new study led by Dr. Robert Carney of Washington University reveals “disappointing” results that failed to show any improvement in symptoms by adding omega-3 to a heart patient’s anti-depressant medications.

Omega-3 fatty acids are found in certain types of fish, nuts, and vegetable oils. Although they are believed to have positive cardiovascular effects, they did not help alleviate depression among the heart patients in this study.

Keep in mind, however, that when Dr. Carney expresses his disappointment and his high hopes in future studies for a more positive outcome when adding omega-3 to anti-depressant meds he is speaking as the lead author of a study in which the drug giant GlaxoSmithKline supported his research.  The world’s biggest drug company Pfizer supplied the sertraline (Zoloft), the anti-depressant studied alongside the supplement.  Continue reading “Omega-3 is no help for depression in heart patients” →

Do you suffer from ‘kitchen illiteracy’?

~ Carolyn Thomas ~ 1 Comment

by Carolyn Thomas  ♥ @HeartSisters

Two of our biggest heart disease risks are diabetes and obesity, and they happen to be two serious health crises in North America.  But according to Civil Eats, the roots of both diet-induced diseases may lie in a rarely publicized but even more pernicious epidemic: kitchen illiteracy.    Continue reading “Do you suffer from ‘kitchen illiteracy’?” →