Heart Health Center

Several studies conducted over the years have shown that eating an ounce of nuts four or five times a week can significantly reduce your risk of coronary artery disease, by as much as 40%. In fact, by 2003, the accumulated data was sufficient to move the the FDA to issue a formal statement saying that eating certain specific nuts --- almonds, hazelnuts, pecans, pistachios, walnuts, and peanuts -- can reduce the risk of heart disease.

When adding nuts to your diet, however, there are a few things to keep in mind to avoid the "tragic downside" of nuts for heart health. You can read all about nuts for heart health here.

In deep venous thrombosis (DVT) blood clots form in the deep veins of the legs. Not only can the DVT itself produce unpleasant symptoms, but also DVT can lead to the much more serious problem of pulmonary embolus.

Read about DVT, the problems it can cause, and its treatment.

The Long QT syndrome is an inherited disorder of the heart's electrical system that can cause sudden death, even in young, healthy individuals. Read about long QT syndrome, its causes and treatment, here.

Inappropriate sinus tachycardia (IST) is a condition in which an individual's resting heart rate is abnormally high (greater than 100 beats per minute), their heart rate increases rapidly with minimal exertion, and their rapid heart rate is accompanied by symptoms of palpitations, fatigue, and exercise intolerance. It is more common in women, and (while one hopes not) this may be why it is all too often written off by doctors as "anxiety." Read about IST, its causes and treatment, here.

Unstable angina is one of the types of "Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS)," a series of conditions most commonly produced by the rupture of a plaque in a coronary artery. All types of ACS, including unstable angina, should be considered medical emergencies.

Unstable angina is "unstable" not only because a plaque has ruptured (a situation which always threatens to progress to a myocardial infarction), but also because the symptoms it produces - the angina - generally occurs much more frequently, often at rest, lasts much longer, and begins responding poorly to nitroglycerin.

Read more about unstable angina - how to recognize it and how it is treated - here.

On rare occasions, pregnancy can lead to a condition called postpartum cardiomyopathy, or pregnancy-associated heart failure.

Women who develop postpartum cardiomyopathy experience the onset of heart failure either during the last month of pregnancy, or within five months of delivering a baby. These women have no prior underlying heart disease, and no other identifiable reason to develop heart disease. Their heart failure can be a temporary, self-limited condition, or can progress to severe, life-threatening heart failure.

Read here about postpartum cardiomyopathy.

Aspirin, that commonly-used pain reliever and anti-inflammatory drug, can be useful in reducing the risk of cardiovascular events, such as heart attack (myocardial infarction) and stroke. But you should consider preventive treatment with aspirin only when, in your particular case, the likely benefits outweigh the risks.

So the decision as to whether to take aspirin to prevent heart attacks is different in everyone.

Here's what the experts are now saying about who should take prophylactic aspirin.

If you have had syncope (transient loss of consciousness), your doctor will want to do an evaluation to figure out what caused it.  Fortunately, in most cases the evaluation of syncope should be pretty straightforward. Unfortunately, too many doctors fail to approach this problem in a systematic way, and their patients can wind up having unnecessary tests and experiencing unnecessary anxiety.

This article describes how syncope should be evaluated.

The medical name for fainting spells, or a temporary loss of consciousness, is syncope (sin-co-pee). Syncope is a pretty common symptom, and it it thought that most people will experience syncope  at least once in their lives.  Still, because it may be a sign of a serious underlying medical problem, if you have syncope, you should contact your doctor to discuss the need for an evaluation.

This article discusses the symptom of syncope, and the many things that can cause it.

Preventing acute coronary syndrome - ACS - should be one of your chief concerns if you have been told you have coronary artery disease.

Acute coronary syndrome occurs when a blood clot suddenly forms within a coronary artery, causing acute blockage in the artery. ACS very often leads to unstable angina or a heart attack. In fact, ACS is what causes most heart attacks.

Anyone with coronary artery disease can develop ACS. So everyone with coronary artery disease should take appropriate steps to reduce the risk of ACS. These preventative actions include steps to lower the risk of plaque rupture, and steps to reduce the risk of large or persistent blood clots if a rupture occurs.

Read here about what you can do to lower your risk of ACS.