Healthy Heart

The American Heart Association released their 2021 Dietary Guidance to Improve Cardiovascular Health. The new scientific statement emphasizes the importance of dietary patterns over individual foods or nutrients; underscores the critical role of initiating heart-healthy dietary habits early in life; and discusses additional benefits of heart-healthy dietary patterns, beyond cardiovascular health. The committee that developed […]

Chances are you consume too much sodium, which can cause high blood pressure. Putting away the saltshaker is never a bad idea, but the vast majority of the sodium we consume comes from packaged foods and restaurant meals. Recently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) asked food manufacturers and restaurants to voluntarily start reducing […]

A study of sedentary adults at high risk for developing type 2 diabetes found that spending more time standing, rather than sitting, may lower risk. The 64 study participants, ages 40 to 65, had metabolic syndrome—a cluster of conditions (including high blood sugar, low HDL cholesterol, high triglycerides, large waist circumference, and high blood pressure) […]

A new study confirms long-standing evidence that dietary and other lifestyle changes are a key solution to high blood pressure—even resistant hypertension (high blood pressure difficult to control with medication). This randomized clinical trial enrolled 140 adults, average age 63 years, with resistant hypertension for a four-month study. One group received supervised lifestyle intervention, including […]

If you are obese but all of your “numbers” are good (blood pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides, blood sugar…), a new study suggests you are still at greater risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD) than a normal-weight person with similar numbers. The study used data from nearly 9,500 adults with an average age of 56 years at the […]

A recent nationwide survey found that around 35 percent of men and 25 percent of women in the U.S. have high blood triglyceride levels (hypertriglyceridemia). Like high LDL (bad) cholesterol levels, high triglyceride levels are associated with increased risk of heart disease, heart attack, and stroke. Dietary and other lifestyle changes can help keep your […]

Greater whole grain consumption is known to be associated with lower risk of cardiovascular disease. A recent study by Tufts researchers looked at the impact of refined and whole grain intake on specific intermediate risk factors that might be responsible for that association. These factors include fasting blood glucose levels, waist circumference, systolic blood pressure, […]

The heart can show signs of damage before a heart attack or other heart problem occurs. Scientists can measure things like inflammation, cardiac injury, and cardiac strain by looking at biomarkers in the blood.Researchers looked at data from the original DASH-Sodium trial and compared the effects of the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet, […]

The American Heart Association has released a scientific statement addressing how psychological health can contribute to cardiovascular disease (CVD). Their analysis of science to...

The more ultraprocessed foods (UPFs) we consume, the worse our cardiovascular health is likely to be, a new study suggests. UPFs are mixtures of...