Harvard Heart Letter articles from September 2000

Harvard Heart Letter archives from September 2000

Triglycerides and Heart Disease.
September 1, 2000... To understand the role of triglycerides in heart disease, it is helpful to trace the metabolic journey that these blood lipids, or fats, make within the human body. Triglycerides are composed of three fatty acids attached to an alcohol called...

Dont Give Up on Fiber.
September 1, 2000... At one time, high-fiber diets seemed to be the answer for everything that ailed you - or ever might. Through the years, fiber has been touted as nature's cure for irritable bowel syndrome, colon cancer, high cholesterol, and heart disease....

Q.(anticoagulants for preventing stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation)
September 1, 2000... Recently I read that aspirin can actually increase a person's risk for a stroke by causing bleeding in the brain. I have atrial fibrillation and my doctor wants me to take a blood thinner - if not warfarin, then at least aspirin. I've already...

Q.(treating elevated triglyceride levels)
September 1, 2000... I know that high triglyceride levels probably increase my risk for heart disease. My last blood tests showed that my cholesterol numbers were pretty good, but my triglycerides were 256 mg/dL. What should I do to bring that number down? A...

[0] Q.
September 1, 2000... My chest x-ray report said that I had an "uncoiling aorta." My doctor told me that it just means that my aorta is getting longer as I am getting older and that it was normal. But if it was normal, why did they mention it in the report? A...

Heart Attacks Without Chest Pain: The Danger Is Greater?
September 1, 2000... Most everyone is familiar with the "classic" description of a heart attack and its hallmark symptom of crushing chest pressure - pain that does not go away even when a nitroglycerin is slipped under the tongue. Patients might describe this...