Free Republic

An estimated 6.7 million people in the US are living with Alzheimer’s dementia today, and this number could increase to 13.8 million by 2060, according to the NIH. While there are many lifestyle choices that could lower your risk of dementia — including maintaining a good diet, exercising regularly, socializing and keeping your mind stimulated — recent research suggests there’s one humble beverage that can slash your risk with just a few sips. A study out of Japan has found that older adults who regularly consume green tea have fewer cerebral white matter lesions, aResearchers asked almost 9,000 adults to...

The loss of friendship is measurable, and can be seen in every age group and demographic -- although working-class Americans look to be hardest hit.. Friendship in America is in steep decline: We’re more disconnected from each other than ever, and the gulf between us is only growing. Does it matter? It does. We know that friendships are good for us. People with stronger social interactions live longer than those without, according to a study published last week in the UK’s Nature Medicine journal. Living with a partner, for example, is as good for physical health as regular exercise, researchers...

A research team found that an osteoporosis drug might counter a rare genetic mutation underlying a type of heart disease. The results could have implications for treating other rare diseases. Dilated cardiomyopathy is a group of disorders defined by weak cardiac muscles. DCM often causes life-threatening complications as the heart struggles to pump blood. The body's natural response to a weak heart is to force it into overdrive to ensure blood delivery to every corner of the body. "Maybe 30% or 40% of DCM is due to genetic mutation," Sadek said. "We don't have any mutation-specific therapies so far." The...

A diet rich in produce such as grapes, strawberries, açaí, oranges, chocolate, wine and coffee can reduce the risk of metabolic syndrome by as much as 23%, according to the findings of a study involving more than 6,000, the largest in the world to associate the effects of consuming polyphenols. Metabolic syndrome, a cluster of metabolic abnormalities and hormone alterations, is the main risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Polyphenols are bioactive compounds with well-known anti-oxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. The main conclusion was that consumption of polyphenols from different foods at the highest estimated level (469 mg per day) reduced the...

Heart transplant is a scary and serious surgery with a high cost, but for patients with heart failure it can be the only option for cure. Now, however, a multi-institutional research team has found that simply taking a supplement might be all that is needed for certain patients with heart failure to recover—no surgery needed. The research team found that tricaprin, a natural supplement, can improve long-term survival and recovery from heart failure in patients with triglyceride deposit cardiomyovasculopathy (TGCV). TGCV is a new type of heart disease; it results from an impaired ability of the heart and smooth muscle...

Cardiovascular disease is the number one cause of death in the United States, at a cost of about 700,000 lives per year. For decades, and as recently as 2022, doctors recommended that all healthy older people take a low dose (81 milligrams) of aspirin daily for primary prevention of heart disease and strokes. When new research challenged the value of the benefits of prophylactic aspirin as a blanket recommendation for all older, healthier adults, the American College of Cardiology (ACC), the American Heart Association (AHA), and the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) amended their recommendations. They advise against...

Ablation, a procedure to treat abnormal electrical short circuits caused by a heart attack and is usually reserved for patients who do not improve with medication, may be a better first-line treatment for heart attack survivors experiencing dangerous rapid heartbeat episodes, according to late-breaking science. Ventricular tachycardia (VT), the most common cause of sudden cardiac death, is a fast heart rhythm that starts in the heart's lower chambers (ventricles). This rapid heartbeat prevents the heart's chambers from filling completely between contractions, which reduces blood flow to the rest of the body. To reduce the risk of death from VT, the...

Coronary artery calcium (CAC) scores have become a non-invasive way for physicians to easily determine how much plaque has built up inside a patient's coronary arteries, but the question has been how accurate the score is in identifying women, as well as men, who are at high risk for a heart attack or death. A study finds coronary artery calcium scores are not only highly effective in identifying those at risk for future heart attacks, but also for death, and risk prediction was found to be as good in women as in men. Results found that in addition to predicting...

Drinking non-fermented milk may increase the risk of heart disease in women, according to research. The study, which investigated the association between milk intake and the risk of ischemic heart disease (IHD) and acute myocardial infarction (MI), suggests that replacing non-fermented milk with fermented milk could potentially lower women's risks of these conditions. IHD is globally one of the leading contributors to adult mortality, and there is uncertainty about the effects of milk products on the risk of IHD. Fermented milk, found in foods such as yogurt and kefir, is fermented by lactic acid bacteria. Karl Michaëlsson and colleagues conducted...

Doctors have used a new catheter-based approach to draw out resistant pockets of infection that settle in the heart, known as right-sided infective endocarditis, without surgery. Unless treated quickly, the walled-off infections can grow, severely damaging heart valves and potentially affecting other organs as well. In a recent study, over 90% of the participants had their infection cleared, and they had lower in-hospital mortality compared to those whose infections remained. The research is part of a Mayo Clinic-led study across 19 U.S. sites involving patients who were not good candidates for surgery and whose right-sided heart infections had not responded...

Major League Baseball legend and the sport's all-time hits leader Pete Rose passed away on Monday and his cause of death has now been revealed. According to the Clark County Office of the Coroner/Medical Examiner in Nevada, Rose's official cause of death has been revealed to be heart disease. Officials say Rose died from natural causes and that he'd also been battling diabetes. Rose was found dead in his Las Vegas home on Monday afternoon by a family member. He had just been seen the day before at a meet-and-greet in Nashville, Tennessee - where he appeared to be in...

New research has found that those who consume more foods rich in flavonoids, such as berries, tea, red wine and dark chocolate, could lower their risk of dementia. Led by researchers, the study, reveals that increasing the intake of flavonoid-rich foods and drinks could help reduce the risk of developing the incurable illness. While age and genetics contribute substantially to the development of the disease, evidence has shown that risk factors such as diet, can play an important role in prevention. Flavoniods, primarily found in plant foods, have a range of health benefits, including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties. They...

The demands of the working week can lead to sleep disruption and deprivation. However, new research shows that people that "catch up" on their sleep by sleeping in at weekends may see their risk of heart disease fall by one-fifth. "Sufficient compensatory sleep is linked to a lower risk of heart disease," said Mr. Yanjun Song. "The association becomes even more pronounced among individuals who regularly experience inadequate sleep on weekdays." The authors used data from 90,903 subjects involved in the UK Biobank project, and to evaluate the relationship between compensated weekend sleep and heart disease, sleep data was recorded...

An international study has found a surprising connection between constipation and an increased risk of major adverse cardiac events (MACE), including heart attacks, strokes and heart failure. The study analyzed data from over 400,000 participants in the UK Biobank. The research team analyzed data from 408,354 individuals, identifying 23,814 cases of constipation. The findings showed that individuals suffering from constipation were more than twice as likely to suffer from a major cardiac event as those without constipation. Moreover, the study highlighted a particularly concerning link between constipation and hypertension. Hypertensive individuals who also suffered from constipation were found to have...

The traditional lipid panel may not give the full picture of cholesterol-related heart disease risk for many Americans, according to a study. There are different types of cholesterol particles that can cause heart disease, including low-density lipoproteins (LDL), very low-density lipoproteins (VLDL), and intermediate-density lipoproteins (IDL). LDL-C is a measure of the weight of cholesterol in LDL particles and is one of the most common tests people use to measure cholesterol risk. Every LDL, VLDL, and IDL particle has a single protein on its surface called apolipoprotein B (apoB). Prior research has shown that the number of "bad" cholesterol particles,...

It has been discovered that older adults over 60 years old who are prescribed statins against air pollutant exposure can reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, especially stroke. By utilizing the National Health Insurance Service big data, Prof. Seogsong Jeong and Kyuwoong Kim confirmed such results after 6 years of follow-up on the effect of statin use on cardiovascular benefit of statin use against air pollutant exposure in older adults. The research team conducted a retrospective population-based cohort study using the National Health Insurance Service database linked to average daily PM10 and PM2.5 exposure data among 1,229,414 adults aged 60...

(CNN) — Consuming a drink with erythritol — an artificial sweetener used to add bulk to stevia and monk fruit and to sweeten low-carb keto products — more than doubled the risk of blood clotting in 10 healthy people, according to a new pilot study. Clots can break off blood vessels and travel to the heart, triggering a heart attack, or to the brain, triggering a stroke. Previous research has linked erythritol to a higher risk of stroke, heart attack and death. “What is remarkable is that in every single subject, every measure of platelet responsiveness (clotting) went up following...

Stress is inevitable. Chronic stress can increase our risk for heart disease and may also help cancer spread. How this works has remained a mystery. They discovered that stress causes certain white blood cells called neutrophils to form sticky web-like structures that make body tissues more susceptible to metastasis. The finding could point to new treatment strategies that stop cancer's spread. The team arrived at their discovery by mimicking chronic stress in mice with cancer. They first removed tumors that had been growing in mice's breasts and spreading cancer cells to their lungs. Next, they exposed the mice to stress....

A study of people with obstructive sleep apnea suggests that high CPAP pressures may explain why the machines do not lower a patient's risk of heart disease, which is about two to three times higher than average. Several years ago, studies started to suggest a problem with this hypothesis. In studies designed to understand CPAP's effect on the body, they found that levels of a pro-inflammatory factor, angiopoietin-2, do not decline with CPAP use. High levels of Ang2 have been linked in previous studies to a higher risk of stroke, coronary artery disease, vascular disease, and mortality. …To Jelic, the...

— Americans consume too much vitamin B3, researchers suggestNiacin metabolism was associated with incident major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) and may be linked to the pathogenesis of heart disease via inflammatory pathways, researchers said. In a metabolomics study of stable cardiovascular patients, two terminal metabolites of niacin -- N1-methyl-2-pyridone-5-carboxamide (2PY) and N1-methyl-4-pyridone-3-carboxamide (4PY) -- were associated with an up to twofold increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) independent of traditional risk factors, reported Stanley Hazen, MD, PhD, of Cleveland Clinic, and colleagues. Moreover, both metabolites have genetic links to vascular inflammation, they noted in Nature Medicineopens in a new tab...