Lowering bad cholesterol and blood pressure may greatly decrease the likelihood of developing and dying from cardiovascular disease, new research shows. Reducing low-density lipoprotein by 1 mmol/L and blood pressure by 10 mmHg decreases heart and circulatory disease risk by 80 percent, according to a study published Monday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. That preventative approach also decreased death risk from those diseases by 67 percent. "Even small reductions in … [Read more...]
Cancer kills more people than heart disease in wealthy nations
Heart disease still claims the lives of more people globally, but in more affluent nations it has now ceded its place as the leading killer to cancer, a major new report finds. Around the world, 40 percent of all deaths are caused by heart disease, making it the number one global killer. That means that of the estimated 55 million people who died around the world in 2017, approximately 17.7 million succumbed to heart disease. Cancer was the second leading killer globally, accounting for 26 … [Read more...]
Mexico’s president wants abortion referendum
Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said he wants a referendum on abortion, sparking immediate opposition from abortion rights advocates in this overwhelmingly Catholic country. Mexico's 32 states consider abortions criminal unless the pregnancy results from rape or if it endangers the woman's health and life or because of fetal abnormalities. Mexico City is the country's only jurisdiction that permits a woman to abort up to 12 weeks of gestation. The president's ruling party, … [Read more...]
Olive oil could help keep stroke at bay for obese Americans
Olive oil, which is a staple of the Mediterranean diet, may be associated with a reduction of stroke risk among severely obese people. If you're obese and you want to do your heart a favor, try adding some olive oil to your diet. So suggests new research, which found that healthy but severely obese patients who consumed olive oil at least once a week had lower platelet activation. That means their blood showed less propensity toward forming clots -- which might help lower their risk of … [Read more...]
Women diagnosed with diseases later than men, study says
Women receive later diagnoses than men for most conditions and diseases, a study found. For example, women receive cancer diagnoses 2.5 years later than men, according to new findings published in the Nature Communications. With metabolic diseases like diabetes, women were diagnosed about 4.5 years later than men. "When we look across all diseases, we see a tendency that women on average are diagnosed later than men. We have looked not just at diseases, but also at the course of the … [Read more...]
U.S. opioid overdose deaths quadruple, centered in 8 states
U.S. opioid overdose deaths have quadrupled in the last two decades, and the highest rates are now seen in eight Eastern states, a new study shows. Those states are Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, New Hampshire and Ohio. The researchers also found that the death rate from opioids has increased the fastest in the District of Columbia, more than tripling every year since 2013, and that opioid death rates in Florida and Pennsylvania were doubling every two … [Read more...]
Self-monitoring diets not time-consuming, work best
The best way to lose weight is to write down what you eat, even as some view the activity as being too time-consuming, a study says. For six months, participants wrote down their calories and fat for all foods and drinks they consumed, along with how much they consumed and how they cooked it. The method is not that time consuming and can help make a diet more successful, researchers report in a study published Monday in the journal Obesity. The perception is that it takes too much time and … [Read more...]
Small fitness improvements can reduce heart attack risk
Between 2006 and 2008, researchers assessed the cardiorespiratory (heart/lung) fitness of just over 4,500 men and women in Norway. None had heart disease, high blood pressure or cancer, and most were considered at low risk for heart disease over the next 10 years. By 2017, however, 147 of the study participants had suffered a heart attack or developed angina, conditions caused by narrowing or blockage of heart arteries. More investigation showed that the risk of heart attack and angina … [Read more...]
Does salamander hold key to regrowing human body parts?
Scientists who assembled the genome of a salamander renowned for its ability to regenerate body parts say the achievement could be an important step toward finding ways to regrow human body parts. The axolotl is a salamander whose only native habitat is a lake near Mexico City. "It's hard to find a body part they can't regenerate: the limbs, the tail, the spinal cord, the eye, and in some species, the lens, even half of their brain has been shown to regenerate," said study co-lead author … [Read more...]
Ancient Aztec ‘superfood’ could lower blood pressure, study says
A food source consumed by the Aztecs until the 16th century could bring new hope for people with high blood pressure, a study says. The findings, published in the journal Hypertension, showed that isolated peptides known as SP6 lowered the blood pressure of hypertensive animals in lab experiments. "Our research started by conducting simulated gastrointestinal digestion on the raw extract of spirulina. In other words, we reproduced what happens in the human gut after ingesting the … [Read more...]
- 1
- 2
- 3
- …
- 41
- Next Page »