Beyond Cholesterol – Topics

Other factors—or, more precisely, markers—may be related to CHD, although there isn’t as much evidence yet to support their role as independent risks as there is for the ones discussed so far. They include: Low magnesium. When researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention analyzed nutritional data and causes of death for nearly...

Fibrinogen is a protein that helps your blood clot (picture the fibers in a cloth soaking up liquid). That’s a good thing unless, as too often happens, you wind up with too much of a good thing. Then fibrinogen plays a role in the development of CHD by making blood thick and sticky—just what your...

An increasing body of evidence suggests that high levels of iron may explain several heart disease anomalies. For instance, men who regularly donate blood (and thus rid themselves of iron) have a lower risk of heart disease, as do premenopausal women, Iron overload depletes an antioxidant that helps prevent LDL from “rusting,” or oxidizing. who...

High cholesterol is usually tied to lifestyle, genetic factors, or a combination of the two. But there are other causes. One explanation for high cholesterol that isn’t attributable to lifestyle is hypothyroidism, or an underactive thyroid gland. Now comes research that even a slightly underactive thyroid, not bad enough for the problem to be called...

You’ve probably heard of gout. It’s caused by the buildup of uric acid, a by-product of the breakdown of purines (components in many foods we eat), Over time an elevated uric acid level leads to the formation of needle-like crystals in joints. These crystals trigger gout attacks. Researchers now suspect a high level of uric...

Blood pressure is the force of blood against the walls of your arteries. The more forceful it is—the higher it is—the more likely it is that the walls of your arteries will women who are depressed have a risk of dying from heart disease equal to that of women who smoke or dangerous to the...