Surprising Heart Attack Risks

[BlueGin]

Guys: Your hair, or lack of it, can reveal hidden heart attack risks, according to startling new research presented at the American Heart Association’s scientific sessions.

In fact, baldness or a receding hairline can signal greater heart attack danger than having high cholesterol or high blood pressure, the researchers reported. The study found that people (particularly men) with three of the following visible signs of aging were at 57 percent higher risk for a heart attack and 39 percent higher risk for heart disease, compared to people the same age without these warning signs:

•Receding hair at the temples
•A bald spot at the top or back of the head
•Earlobe creases
•Yellowish fatty deposits on the eyelid (known as xanthelasmata)

Danish researchers analyzed health data from nearly 11,000 men and women ages 40 and older. During 35 years of follow-up, 3,041 participants developed heart disease and 1,708 suffered a heart attack. Both individually and combined, the four signs predicted heart attack and heart disease danger independently from other risk factors, such as smoking, obesity, or high cholesterol.

Of the four signs, fatty deposits around the eyes were the strongest predictor and the danger rose with each additional characteristic. Earlier studies have also found a link between a diagonal earlobe crease and plaque buildup in the arteries.

“The visible signs of aging reflect physiologic or biological age, not chronological age, and are independent of chronological age,” said Anne Tybjaerg-Hansen, M.D., the study’s senior author and professor of clinical biochemistry at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, in a news release.

To find out more about surprising heart disease red flags, I talked to Amy Doneen, ARNP, medical director of the Heart Attack & Stroke Prevention Center in Spokane, Washington. In a recent presentation to healthcare providers, she highlighted these little known cardiovascular risk factors for men...

Surprising Heart Attack Risks | Yahoo! Health

 

[Mr. H.]

Heart attack ack ack ack ack ack!

 

[waltky]

Type A blood more prone to heart disease...

Heart problems tied to blood type A: research
Mon, Apr 01, 2013 - STAYING ALIVE: Given the findings, doctors have advised people with type A blood to avoid eating fatty foods, take regular exercise and refrain from smoking

People with blood type A are more susceptible to cardiovascular disease and prone to having heart attacks, according to results of a study by Taiwanese researchers at the Chang Gung Memorial Hospital. The study was conducted on 277 Taiwanese adults (men younger than 45 years and women younger than 55 years), who underwent coronary angiography (X-ray imaging of coronary arteries) at the hospital between 2005 and 2008. According to the study, patients with blood type A had a significantly greater risk of coronary artery disease (CAD) and myocardial infarction (MI), also known as heart attacks, than individuals who do not have type A blood. The result is in accordance with findings from medical teams in Europe and North America, which indicate similar risks for certain blood types, despite the different ethnic and genetic backgrounds.

The findings were announced earlier in an article titled “Association of Blood Group A with Coronary Artery Disease in Young Adults in Taiwan” in Volume 15 No. 14 of the Internal Medicine Journal, a publication from the Japanese Society of Internal Medicine. For young Taiwanese adults, the study found there was a significantly different distribution for those with cardiovascular diseases (O: 30.1 percent, A: 39.7 percent, B: 26.5 percent and AB: 3.7 percent), than the control population (O: 42.6 percent, A: 24.0 percent, B: 27.1 percent and AB: 6.2 percent). According to the findings, people with blood type A are at a greater risk of cardiovascular disease and heart attack than those with non-A blood groups. Even after adjustments for common cardiovascular risk factors, such as age, gender, hypertension, cigarette smoking, diabetes, body mass index, family history and lipid profiles, the study found people with blood type A were still at an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and heart attacks.

Chiu Tsung-chieh, head of Division of Transfusion Medicine at Taipei Veterans General Hospital, said other international studies had found that people with blood type A were at a greater risk of developing stomach cancer. He said the studies still require further research, but that the statistics are revealing. Ho Yi-cheng, family practitioner at Shu Tien Clinic in Taipei, said that blood groups differ by the antigens in the red blood cells. For example, people with blood type A have have A antigens in their red blood cells, while people with blood type B have B antigens. “Those people with both A and B antigens are part of the AB blood group. Those people who do not have either A or B antigens are in the blood group O,” he said. The study’s findings are a good reminder for individuals with blood type A to take preventive measures against the onset of cardiovascular disease.

Doctors recommend reducing the intake of fatty foods, eating more fruit and vegetables, taking regular exercise and avoiding smoking. In addition, people with blood type A who already suffer from hypertension or diabetes or who smoke or are overweight, should seek medical advice and be proactive in making lifestyle adjustments, doctors said. The different characteristics of the various blood groups have been published in medical journals. Studies have shown that O type blood does not coagulate as easily as other blood groups, thus people with blood type O should not regularly take aspirin, ginkgo biloba pills or other anti-blood clotting medicine.

More Heart problems tied to blood type A: research - Taipei Times

 

[waltky]

Granny says it's dem lefty lib'rals dat really gets her blood to boilin'...

WHO: High Blood Pressure a Silent Killer
April 07, 2013 — The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that more than one in three adults, or about one billion people, is affected by high blood pressure. To mark World Health Day (Sunday, April 7), WHO is promoting the many steps people can take to reduce the risk of dying prematurely from what it calls a silent killer.

WHO Director-General Margaret Chan led a tribute today to celebrate the founding of the World Health Organization on April 7, 1948. Every year, World Health Day marks this event by highlighting a public health issue. This year’s theme is hypertension, also known as high blood pressure, one of the most important contributors to heart disease and stroke. Chan says the effects of the condition create a global health crisis. “Hyper-pressure contributes to nearly 9.4 million deaths due to heart disease and stroke every year and, together, these two diseases are the number one cause of death worldwide. And, hyper-pressure also increases the risk of kidney failure, blindness and several other conditions. It often occurs together with other risk factors like obesity, diabetes and high cholesterol - increasing the health risk even further.”

WHO Director-General Margaret Chan is seen speaking at the World Health Assembly in Geneva

Overall, WHO reports high-income countries have a lower prevalence of hypertension than low-and-middle income countries. It says the prevalence of this disease is highest in Africa, where nearly half of all adults have hypertension. The lowest is found in the Americas.

Preventable and treatable

The World Health Organization notes high blood pressure is preventable and treatable once it is detected. It is urging all adults around the world to get their blood pressure measured so they can take steps to control it.

WHO Chief Chan says high blood pressure must be taken seriously. “It is a strong and reliable warning signal that health is at risk and that something needs to be done. But, hyper-pressure, ladies and gentlemen, is always a silent warning signal. What do I mean by that? Usually hyper-pressure does not show any symptoms for years or even decades…. So, it is important that we take advantage of the early warning signal by taking our blood pressure regularly.”

WHO says people can cut the risks of high blood pressure by consuming less salt, eating a balanced diet, exercising regularly, avoiding tobacco use and overindulgence in alcohol. If these life-style changes do not work, WHO says low-cost medication to treat the illness is available.

WHO: High Blood Pressure a Silent Killer

 

[whitehall]

Think about it, the subjects were 40 and older. If they were 45 years old and the data ran for another 35 years it would put them at about 80 which is the lifespan of Americans give or take a couple of years. Everybody dies of a heart attack. Did they have bald spots? Did they eat carrots? The data is dated and as meaningless as Danish medical research. .

 

[waltky]

Granny says, "Dat's right - ya s'posed to cook it till it's brown...

Red meat chemical 'damages heart', say US scientists
7 April 2013 - A chemical found in red meat helps explain why eating too much steak, mince and bacon is bad for the heart, say US scientists.

A study in the journal Nature Medicine showed that carnitine in red meat was broken down by bacteria in the gut. This kicked off a chain of events that resulted in higher levels of cholesterol and an increased risk of heart disease. Dieticians warned there may be a risk to people taking carnitine supplements. There has been a wealth of studies suggesting that regularly eating red meat may be damaging to health.

In the UK, the government recommends eating no more than 70g of red or processed meat a day - the equivalent of two slices of bacon. Saturated fat and the way processed meat is preserved are thought to contribute to heart problems. However, this was not thought to be the whole story. "The cholesterol and saturated fat content of lean red meat is not that high, there's something else contributing to increases in cardiovascular risk," lead researcher Dr Stanley Hazen told the BBC.

Gut bugs

Experiments on mice and people showed that bacteria in the gut could eat carnitine. Carnitine was broken down into a gas, which was converted in the liver to a chemical called TMAO. In the study, TMAO was strongly linked with the build-up of fatty deposits in blood vessels, which can lead to heart disease and death.

Dr Hazen, from the Cleveland Clinic, said TMAO was often ignored: "It may be a waste product but it is significantly influencing cholesterol metabolism and the net effect leads to an accumulation of cholesterol. "The findings support the idea that less red meat is better. "I used to have red meat five days out of seven, now I have cut it way back to less than once every two weeks or so." He said the findings raised the idea of using a probiotic yogurt to change the balance of bacteria in the gut. Reducing the number of bacteria that feed on carnitine would in theory reduce the health risks of red meat. Vegetarians naturally have fewer bacteria which are able to break down carnitine than meat-eaters.

More BBC News - Red meat chemical 'damages heart', say US scientists

See also:

Leeds child heart surgery to resume on Wednesday
8 April 2013 - Children's heart surgery at Leeds General Infirmary (LGI) is to resume on Wednesday, after operations were halted amid concerns over death rates.

Operations were stopped more than a week ago after it was claimed data showed higher-than-usual death rates. It was announced on Friday that surgery would restart "subject to independent validation of the clinical data". Further analysis of case notes, complaints and referrals at the LGI would be carried out, said NHS England. A "phased resumption" of children's heart surgery at the hospital would begin on Wednesday, starting with lower-risk cases.

'Uniquely poor'

The move followed the end of the first stage of a review into the safety of the unit. During that part of the review, assurances had been received from independent experts about the quality of surgery and staffing levels that were sufficient to allow the phased resumption of operations, said NHS England. However, "significant improvements" were necessary to the way the unit at the LGI monitored the quality of care there. The review found that Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust's data for monitoring the outcome of surgery had been "uniquely poor". The second stage of the review into safety at the unit would now begin looking at other areas where improvement may be necessary, said NHS England. Those areas would include a review of the way complaints from patients were handled at the unit and the completion of a review of patients' case notes over the last three years.

Sir Bruce Keogh, medical director of NHS England, said: "We now need to explore some of the wider issues around how the unit operates as a whole. "I hope we will soon be able to give the unit a full clean bill of health beyond this immediate reassurance of safety." Maggie Boyle, chief executive of Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, said she was "delighted" to reopen the unit after the independent review of staff and services and apologised for the "upset and worry caused". She said: "Our partners and ourselves are now in a position to reassure those families coming to Leeds for treatment that our hospital is as safe as any children's heart surgery centre in England."

Sharon Cheng. from Save Our Surgery - the group which is co-ordinating the fight to keep children's heart surgery in Leeds - said: "First and foremost, I'm absolutely thrilled that this centre is reopening. "In my opinion it's open, whether you use the word phased or not this centre is clearly open. "I know that eminent bodies have been in the hospital going through a robust, rigorous process this weekend and I believe that that process has been fulfilled and that's why this centre is open."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-22064067

 

[waltky]

Growing new blood vessels...

Scientists Discover How to Grow New Blood Vessels
May 02, 2013 - Scientists have discovered how heart disease patients with dangerously blocked arteries are able to grow new blood vessels to by-pass the blockage, and keep oxygen-rich blood flowing through their bodies. The discovery is raising the possibility of new treatments for cardiac patients.

In people with heart disease, it is not uncommon for new blood vessels to grow around blocked arteries in order to keep essential, oxygenated blood coursing through the body. But those emergency blood vessels don’t grow in everyone with coronary artery disease. Researchers have been working for more than a decade trying to coax new blood vessel formation, or angiogenesis, using human growth factors, specific enzymes and hormones that promote cellular growth.

But Michael Simons, a cell biologist and head of cardiovascular research at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, says scientists found that growth factors only went so far in stimulating new blood vessel growth. “They do that in normal animals and in normal people. But they did not work in people with advanced illnesses, and we never understood why," said Simons. Simons and colleagues took a step back, looking at factors that cause blood vessels to form during fetal development, to try to determine why that process often doesn't occur in people with advanced heart disease.

When organs are damaged because of a lack of blood flow, Simons explains, they release a repair molecule called VEGFR. Another molecule called NRP1 binds to that protein, and transports it, along with a second repair protein called VEGFR2, to the inside of blood vessels, stimulating the healing process. But in experiments with mice, researchers discovered repair doesn't take place, or is poorly executed, in rodents bred to have damaged NRP1. Simons says angiogenesis is hampered because the molecules can't enter damaged blood vessels.

Simons believes heart patients whose bodies do not repair and grow new arteries to bypass damaged blood vessels also have impaired NRP1. “So, now that we understand how this works, you can now begin designing therapies that will specifically stimulate this pathway where you need it if you want to grow arteries. On the other hand, if your goal is to inhibit the growth of blood vessels, you could do this of course in reverse," he said. Reversing blood vessel formation would choke off and destroy cancerous tumors, which require an arterial blood supply to grow and spread. An article by Yale University’s Michael Simons and colleagues on blood vessel formation is published in the journal Developmental Cell.

Scientists Discover How to Grow New Blood Vessels

See also:

Air Pollution Linked to Artery Hardening, Increased Stroke Risk
May 02, 2013 - U.S. researchers say urban dwellers exposed to the highest levels of fine particulate air pollution had faster hardening of the arteries, putting them at increased risk of stroke, compared to people in less polluted sections of the same city. The finding adds to a growing body of evidence that residing in polluted urban areas is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease.

Atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, is a leading cause of death around the world. It can cause stroke or death when a blood clot or piece of hardened plaque inside a blocked coronary artery breaks off and travels to the brain, cutting off blood flow. To investigate the role of air pollution in the development of atherosclerosis, researchers followed a group of almost 5,400 adults in six metropolitan areas. None of the participants was known to have heart disease. They were part of a larger U.S. study called the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis and Air Pollution, or MESA Air.

Between 2000 and 2005, researchers conducted two non-invasive ultrasound examinations on each participant, at intervals of three years, to measure the thickness of the subjects' carotid artery walls. The carotid carries blood to the head, neck and brain. Thickening of an arterial wall is a good indicator of atherosclerosis throughout the body, even in patients with no obvious symptoms of heart disease. Analyzing the ultrasound results, researchers found a slight, but significant increase in the thickening of carotid artery walls among individuals who resided in high pollution areas compared to those in less polluted urban centers. According to lead researcher Sara Adar, an epidemiologist at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, their findings corroborated earlier studies of the group.

“Based on another study that was done in the same cohort [group] of people, they found that the amount of change that we saw for living in a high-pollution neighborhood versus living in a low pollution neighborhood would correspond to about a two percent increased risk of stroke," said Adar. Fine particulate air pollution, the kind of black soot belched out by smoke stacks and the tailpipes of buses in many urban areas around the world, is widely believed to cause inflammation and oxidative stress that can contribute to heart disease.

Adar says people already are encouraged to stay indoors on days when pollution is particularly high. But she says doctors should make a point of discussing the hazards of air pollution with their patients: “So, just as they might ask somebody 'Do you smoke?' or think about if someone is obese, [the question of] how long someone has lived in a highly polluted environment might factor into a physician’s notion of whether or not somebody is at high or low risk for cardiovascular disease or heart disease," she said. An article linking air pollution to accelerated hardening of the arteries is published in the journal PLoS Medicine.

Source

 

[editec]

Very few 90 year old men have hair.

Then there's my 90 y.o, father..the silver fox.

Based on his mane, the man might very live forever!

 

[Truthseeker420]

So as long as I stay good looking I can have fried chicken?

 

[waltky]

truth wrote: So as long as I stay good looking I can have fried chicken?

Is better to look good...

... than to feel good.

 

[Truthseeker420]

truth wrote: So as long as I stay good looking I can have fried chicken?

Is better to look good...

... than to feel good.

That's right. I'm heading out to get Rogaine, Olay and KFC.

 

[Luddly Neddite]

So as long as I stay good looking I can have fried chicken?

Sure, but be aware that chicken is not the panacea we have been told it is.

Be that as it may, you can mitigate ALL predisposing factors just by changing your lifestyle.

My family is all heart disease, cancer and diabetics. I'm the oldest of my sibs still alive and I have a healthy heart, no cancer and no diabetes because I don't live the way they do.

They're all digging their own graves with their forks. That is, when they can put their cigarettes out. That's their choice to be sure, but every damn one of the family that is still hanging on whines that its in their genes.

There are plenty of fools here who whine about not being able to smoke at the table next to me. Or they whine that schools are feeding their kids five healthy meals a week and they say they're feeding their hate by eating the shit served at Chik filet and hate Bloomberg for his wanting to end huge sugary drinks.

I disagree with mandating the size of the sugar water sodas but how stupid do you have to be to eat and drink poison and then piss and moan about having to pay the price - like higher insurance rates if you smoke.

People can be so fucking dumb.

 

[Luddly Neddite]

truth wrote: So as long as I stay good looking I can have fried chicken?

Is better to look good...

... than to feel good.

That's right. I'm heading out to get Rogaine, Olay and KFC.

Put the KFC on your head - NEVER in your mouth!!

 

[AdemolaOkubena]

Hello friends,

There are few people died in heart attack in the world. The best reason of heart attack is smooking cigarette. Basically young stage people smooking cigarette. It is injurious to health. There are certain best hospital for treatment heart attack.

Thanks a lot
Ademola Okubena

 

[DaisyJ123]

It's really pleasure to read these posts.Very helpful. Thank you so much for writing such a nice post.

 

[auditor0007]

Growing new blood vessels...

Scientists Discover How to Grow New Blood Vessels
May 02, 2013 - Scientists have discovered how heart disease patients with dangerously blocked arteries are able to grow new blood vessels to by-pass the blockage, and keep oxygen-rich blood flowing through their bodies. The discovery is raising the possibility of new treatments for cardiac patients.

In people with heart disease, it is not uncommon for new blood vessels to grow around blocked arteries in order to keep essential, oxygenated blood coursing through the body. But those emergency blood vessels don’t grow in everyone with coronary artery disease. Researchers have been working for more than a decade trying to coax new blood vessel formation, or angiogenesis, using human growth factors, specific enzymes and hormones that promote cellular growth.

But Michael Simons, a cell biologist and head of cardiovascular research at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, says scientists found that growth factors only went so far in stimulating new blood vessel growth. “They do that in normal animals and in normal people. But they did not work in people with advanced illnesses, and we never understood why," said Simons. Simons and colleagues took a step back, looking at factors that cause blood vessels to form during fetal development, to try to determine why that process often doesn't occur in people with advanced heart disease.

When organs are damaged because of a lack of blood flow, Simons explains, they release a repair molecule called VEGFR. Another molecule called NRP1 binds to that protein, and transports it, along with a second repair protein called VEGFR2, to the inside of blood vessels, stimulating the healing process. But in experiments with mice, researchers discovered repair doesn't take place, or is poorly executed, in rodents bred to have damaged NRP1. Simons says angiogenesis is hampered because the molecules can't enter damaged blood vessels.

Simons believes heart patients whose bodies do not repair and grow new arteries to bypass damaged blood vessels also have impaired NRP1. “So, now that we understand how this works, you can now begin designing therapies that will specifically stimulate this pathway where you need it if you want to grow arteries. On the other hand, if your goal is to inhibit the growth of blood vessels, you could do this of course in reverse," he said. Reversing blood vessel formation would choke off and destroy cancerous tumors, which require an arterial blood supply to grow and spread. An article by Yale University’s Michael Simons and colleagues on blood vessel formation is published in the journal Developmental Cell.

Scientists Discover How to Grow New Blood Vessels

See also:

Air Pollution Linked to Artery Hardening, Increased Stroke Risk
May 02, 2013 - U.S. researchers say urban dwellers exposed to the highest levels of fine particulate air pollution had faster hardening of the arteries, putting them at increased risk of stroke, compared to people in less polluted sections of the same city. The finding adds to a growing body of evidence that residing in polluted urban areas is a risk factor for cardiovascular disease.

Atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries, is a leading cause of death around the world. It can cause stroke or death when a blood clot or piece of hardened plaque inside a blocked coronary artery breaks off and travels to the brain, cutting off blood flow. To investigate the role of air pollution in the development of atherosclerosis, researchers followed a group of almost 5,400 adults in six metropolitan areas. None of the participants was known to have heart disease. They were part of a larger U.S. study called the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis and Air Pollution, or MESA Air.

Between 2000 and 2005, researchers conducted two non-invasive ultrasound examinations on each participant, at intervals of three years, to measure the thickness of the subjects' carotid artery walls. The carotid carries blood to the head, neck and brain. Thickening of an arterial wall is a good indicator of atherosclerosis throughout the body, even in patients with no obvious symptoms of heart disease. Analyzing the ultrasound results, researchers found a slight, but significant increase in the thickening of carotid artery walls among individuals who resided in high pollution areas compared to those in less polluted urban centers. According to lead researcher Sara Adar, an epidemiologist at the University of Michigan School of Public Health, their findings corroborated earlier studies of the group.

“Based on another study that was done in the same cohort [group] of people, they found that the amount of change that we saw for living in a high-pollution neighborhood versus living in a low pollution neighborhood would correspond to about a two percent increased risk of stroke," said Adar. Fine particulate air pollution, the kind of black soot belched out by smoke stacks and the tailpipes of buses in many urban areas around the world, is widely believed to cause inflammation and oxidative stress that can contribute to heart disease.

Adar says people already are encouraged to stay indoors on days when pollution is particularly high. But she says doctors should make a point of discussing the hazards of air pollution with their patients: “So, just as they might ask somebody 'Do you smoke?' or think about if someone is obese, [the question of] how long someone has lived in a highly polluted environment might factor into a physician’s notion of whether or not somebody is at high or low risk for cardiovascular disease or heart disease," she said. An article linking air pollution to accelerated hardening of the arteries is published in the journal PLoS Medicine.

Source

My mother had a heart attack two years ago. She was 80. The put in a stent and she has done well since, although she had to survive lung cancer this past year. Luckily that was caught very early and they were able to remove all of it surgically. She did not need any chemo or radiation, so for that we are grateful.

Anyway, getting back to my point, when they did the heart surgery, they determined that she had a heart attack many years before as one of her arteries was completely blocked, but she had grown new veins that replaced the blocked artery and were working fine all on their own. They didn't even mess with that blocked artery because they said it was no longer a problem. They told us that this is not all that unusual.

 

[auditor0007]

So as long as I stay good looking I can have fried chicken?

Sure, but be aware that chicken is not the panacea we have been told it is.

Be that as it may, you can mitigate ALL predisposing factors just by changing your lifestyle.

My family is all heart disease, cancer and diabetics. I'm the oldest of my sibs still alive and I have a healthy heart, no cancer and no diabetes because I don't live the way they do.

They're all digging their own graves with their forks. That is, when they can put their cigarettes out. That's their choice to be sure, but every damn one of the family that is still hanging on whines that its in their genes.

There are plenty of fools here who whine about not being able to smoke at the table next to me. Or they whine that schools are feeding their kids five healthy meals a week and they say they're feeding their hate by eating the shit served at Chik filet and hate Bloomberg for his wanting to end huge sugary drinks.

I disagree with mandating the size of the sugar water sodas but how stupid do you have to be to eat and drink poison and then piss and moan about having to pay the price - like higher insurance rates if you smoke.

People can be so fucking dumb.

It truly is amazing. I smoked for thirty years before quitting a few years ago. At one time my cholesterol was about 250. I was also starting to gain weight. I wasn't fat yet, but I had put on a few extra pounds. After giving up the smokes, I started working out and eating better. I cut out almost all soda and my flavored coffee creamer. Within three months, I lost 17 pounds and was back to my ideal weight. Today, my cholesterol is under 170, my blood pressure is 110/65, I have a resting heart rate between 45 and 50, and I can run a 5K in 22 minutes. The only thing I don't can't seem to find are my six pack abs. I just eat too damn much. Even with keeping my weight where I want it, i still eat over 3000 calories per day, but I burn it all off.

People who choose not to take care of themselves will complain about every little thing, then they will tell you that none of it matters because we all are going to die someday anyway. What they miss is that they don't have to die as soon as they will, and even if they do, it's not about how long you live but how well you live. When you take care of yourself, you don't have all those complaints because you actually feel great, at least most of the time. Sure it takes some effort, but damn, it's sure is worth it.

 

[Delta4Embassy]

Guys: Your hair, or lack of it, can reveal hidden heart attack risks, according to startling new research presented at the American Heart Association’s scientific sessions.

In fact, baldness or a receding hairline can signal greater heart attack danger than having high cholesterol or high blood pressure, the researchers reported. The study found that people (particularly men) with three of the following visible signs of aging were at 57 percent higher risk for a heart attack and 39 percent higher risk for heart disease, compared to people the same age without these warning signs:

•Receding hair at the temples
•A bald spot at the top or back of the head
•Earlobe creases
•Yellowish fatty deposits on the eyelid (known as xanthelasmata)

Danish researchers analyzed health data from nearly 11,000 men and women ages 40 and older. During 35 years of follow-up, 3,041 participants developed heart disease and 1,708 suffered a heart attack. Both individually and combined, the four signs predicted heart attack and heart disease danger independently from other risk factors, such as smoking, obesity, or high cholesterol.

Of the four signs, fatty deposits around the eyes were the strongest predictor and the danger rose with each additional characteristic. Earlier studies have also found a link between a diagonal earlobe crease and plaque buildup in the arteries.

“The visible signs of aging reflect physiologic or biological age, not chronological age, and are independent of chronological age,” said Anne Tybjaerg-Hansen, M.D., the study’s senior author and professor of clinical biochemistry at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, in a news release.

To find out more about surprising heart disease red flags, I talked to Amy Doneen, ARNP, medical director of the Heart Attack & Stroke Prevention Center in Spokane, Washington. In a recent presentation to healthcare providers, she highlighted these little known cardiovascular risk factors for men...

Surprising Heart Attack Risks | Yahoo! Health

Been taking a low-dose daily aspirin ever since hearing about the study citing after 5 years of use a 30%+ drop in some cancers along with other benefits. Think it reduces high blood pressure since aspirin thins the blood. Found I had to reduce my supplements of green tea extract and gingko since thos eboth thin the blood as well and nicks shaving weren't healing as promptly, but found a happy balance.

 

[whitehall]

Eleven thousand people don't prove diddly. I bet most of the heart attack victims were married. Maybe they ate carrots. Who funds this crap?

 

[Luddly Neddite]

Eleven thousand people don't prove diddly. I bet most of the heart attack victims were married. Maybe they ate carrots. Who funds this crap?

I'll bet you eat meat, including McDonald's type garbage, smoke and sit on the couch gobbling chips and soda while watching football instead going out for a run or playing sports yourself.

Its far more than 11K people. Its years and years of evidence that cannot be denied and should not be ignored.

But, hey, if your way works for you, go for it.