Heart disease is the leading cause of death and increasingly common in a world where obesity is running rampant. When a heart attack occurs heart tissue is abruptly damaged and cells die.  Those cardiac muscle cells form into a scar which no longer contracts and no longer contributes to pumping the blood.  As people with cardiac disease have repeated heart attacks, the growing mass of scar tissue [...]

Diet soda is marketed as a healthier alternative to sugared sodas.  Clearly drinking sugared beverages daily adds significant and unnecessary  amounts of calories to one’s diet, increasing the risk of obesity, diabetes, vascular disease and cancer. In the current study, researchers attempted to determine if drinking diet soda on a daily basis would have any effect on vascular disease. The [...]

All things in moderation remains an important dictum especially when it comes to maximizing human longevity. In recent months and years, vitamin D has risen in importance as a preventer of many diseases and age-related declines.  It has become increasingly clear that large segments of the US population are deficient in vitamin D, especially in eth winter months when sun exposure is limited. The USRDA [...]

Stem cells may turn out to be an important tool in the armamentarium against aging.  These are cells that are capable of dividing and differentiating into any particular type of cell in the body. There is not a great amount of research proving the use of these cells as a therapy thus far, and every new positive result is an important step forward. Towards that end, a group of researchers have reported [...]

A new metaanalysis of trials examining the effect of exercise on risk of heart disease has just been published in the Journal Circulation. The authors analyzed the results of 33 major trials measuring the effect of exercise on heart disease.  These optimal studies were culled from a field of 300 studies the authors reviewed. The findings were uniform and robust. Any amount of regular moderate exercise [...]

A quality research trial from Harvard’s School of Public Health has looked for a relationship between dietary chocolate consumption and evidence of coronary artery calcified plaque. The study examined 2271 patients in the Family Heart Study.  Dietary chocolate consumption was measured, and all patients underwent coronary calcium scoring by CT scan.  Coronary calcium scoring determines the [...]

Having high HDL or good cholesterol is known to reduce risk of heart disease and is believed to be associated with longevity. Researchers recently published a large comprehensive study to examine this relationship.  The study looked at the HDL levels of 652 male patients in a VA clinic system when they were middle aged through retrospective chart reviews. The men averaged 62 years at the time of [...]