Heart Disease
Cardiologist, author, and heart health expert Dr. Sarah Samaan offers advice on how to live a heart smart life.
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Nov 13 2012
Shrimp, Cholesterol, and Heart Health
Years ago, shrimp was considered to be taboo for heart patients or for people watching their cholesterol numbers. That’s because a small serving of 3.5 ounces supplies about 200 mg of cholesterol. For people at high risk for heart disease, that...
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Sep 28 2012
Bisphenol A and Heart Disease : More Bad News
Bisphenol A (BPA) has popped up regularly in the news since 2008, when a number of scientific studies began to question its safety. A compound commonly used to make a host of plastic products including plastic bottles, the inner coatings of can...
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Sep 01 2011
You are Your Father’s Son
Although we would like to blame all our woes—healthwise and otherwise—on our parents, in reality, only 15 percent of coronary artery disease can be directly attributable to our genetics. Before we let our ancestors completely off the hook, it’s...
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Jul 11 2011
Statins and Diabetes: What You Need to Know
Statins are the closest thing we have to cardiovascular wonder drugs. These cholesterol-lowering drugs cut the risk of heart attacks and strokes by 30 percent or more, slow the progression of cholesterol buildup, and in some people can even shr...
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Jun 27 2011
What You Should Know about Simvastatin
Simvastatin, also known as Zocor, is a statin drug that doctors prescribe to lower cholesterol. It was first approved by the FDA in 1991 and went generic in 2006. Although there are more potent non-generic statin drugs—some with less potential ...
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Jun 16 2011
What to Do When Someone You Know Has a Stroke
Strokes are like heart attacks to the brain. Most are caused by a sudden blockage of a blood vessel that feeds the brain. This may be due to a blood clot, a cholesterol plaque, or even spasm of the artery. Less commonly, strokes can be caused ...
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Jun 13 2011
What’s that You Say? Cholesterol and Hearing Loss
We all know that cholesterol is strongly linked to cardiovascular disease, and that lowering cholesterol levels can reduce our risks of heart attacks and strokes. But a recent study from the Centre for Vision Research at the University of Sydn...
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Jun 09 2011
Cholesterol Testing for Kids
Cholesterol used to be a concept linked to middle age. For many years, we had very little understanding of how and when to check cholesterol levels. This was in part related to the fact that we had very few ways to treat the problem, and rather...
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Jun 06 2011
The Truth about Tropical Oils and Heart Health
Body lotions oozing with coconut and palm oil make our skin feel silky smooth, but what do they do for the heart? It’s an important question. Although most saturated fat comes from animal fat, tropical oils are the most important plant-based so...
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May 23 2011
High Triglycerides: The New American Heart Association Guidelines
Triglycerides, simply put, are a form of fat that circulates in the blood. Triglycerides come from fat in the diet, but are also produced from the carbohydrates that we eat. Sugar and starchy carbs, including white bread, white rice, white past...
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