Low-Salt Diet Ups Risk of Fatal Heart Attack?

Doctors and public health officials have been telling us for years that eating too much sodium can increase the risk of heart attack or stroke by raising blood pressure to unsafe levels. So how to explain a new study that suggests low salt intake actually increases the risk of dying from those causes?

The study, which followed 3,681 healthy European…

Waist Size Predicts Heart-Disease Death Better Than Weight

Doctors have long known that obesity increases a person’s risk of heart disease, but in recent years the picture has grown more complicated.

Several studies have found that a high body mass index is associated with a lower risk of dying from heart disease and other chronic illnesses—a mysterious phenomenon that has come to be known as the “obesity paradox.”…

Long Hours at Work May Boost Heart-Attack Risk

While you may consider yourself lucky to be working long hours—or working at all—in the current economy, your diligence may be undermining your health in the long run.

People who work an average of 11 or more hours per day have a 67% higher risk of suffering a heart attack or dying from heart disease than people who work…

Certain Painkillers Appear to Boost Odds for Heart Attack

Common painkillers taken to treat inflammation, such as Celebrex and Advil, can raise the risk of heart attack, stroke or death, a review of existing research suggests.

Swiss researchers analyzed the results of 31 trials involving seven non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), as these medications are called, and concluded that cardiovascular risk needs to be considered before prescribing any of them.

“NSAIDs…

Pain Drugs Up Fracture, Heart Attack Risk

Doctors are increasingly turning to Oxycontin and similar painkillers to treat arthritis and other conditions in older people, but the drugs may not be as safe as once thought. A new study suggests that elderly arthritis patients who take these drugs—known as opioids—are 4.5 times more likely to break their hip, pelvis, wrist, or upper arm than those…

Repeated Miscarriage Quintuples Heart Attack Risk

Losing a pregnancy can break a mom-to-be’s heart in more ways than one. According to a new study, women who experience a stillbirth or repeated miscarriages have a dramatically increased risk of heart attack later in life.

Compared to women who never had a miscarriage, women who had more than three were about 5 times more likely to…

Heartburn

Heartburn is a feeling of burning, warmth, heat, or pain that often starts in the upper abdomen just beneath the lower breastbone (sternum). This discomfort may spread in waves upward into your throat, and you may have a sour taste in your mouth. Heartburn is sometimes called indigestion, acid regurgitation, sour stomach, or pyrosis. It is not caused by…