When someone goes into cardiac arrest, getting medical help promptly can improve their chance of survival. If defibrillators were installed in more locations where people gather, the patient can get help before the time when they could experience brain damage or die, which is between four and six minutes. A study released in Circulation on July 29, 2009, found that most cardiac arrests that occurred outside of hospitals occurred in one of these locations: Central Bus Terminals Large Shopping Centers Sports Centers Train Stations If Automated External Defibrillators, or AEDs, were installed in more public places, as well as schools, then the survival rate for cardiac arrest outside of hospitals would improve. Installing them in areas where large numbers of people meet can save lives. The ...

One of the things you can do to help reduce your risk of developing heart disease is to increase the amount of fiber in your diet. It helps to remove toxins from your body and lowers your risk of developing the following medical conditions: Cancer Cardiovascular Disease Diabetes Gastrointestinal Diseases Hypertension Obesity Osteoporosis Adding Fiber to Your Diet It’s best to increase the fiber in your diet slowly. Adding too much, too soon can lead to diarrhea, gas, and cramping. You will want to make the necessary changes gradually, and be sure to drink plenty of water while doing so. To increase the fiber in your diet, choose whole grain breads and cereal more often. You can make a point of eating salads and adding fruit and vegetables to your diet more often to improve your hea...

A heart attack is such a serious health threat because once the heart muscle has been damaged, it can’t repair itself. Researchers have found that injecting the damaged muscle with a protein that stimulates growth may help to reverse the damage. The protein that researchers are so excited about is called NRG1 (neuregulin1). This protein is responsible for the development of the heart and nervous system of a fetus. Once the baby is born, the protein stops working on the muscle cells of the heart. When Boston Children’s Hospital pediatric cardiologist Dr Bernhard Kuhn and his team injected the protein into rats who had experienced a heart attack on a daily basis for 12 weeks, cells started to regenerate and the heart’s pumping action improved. The injected rats also avoided...

Does taking Vitamin E supplements lower your risk of heart disease? It may be too soon to tell. Vitamin E is found in seeds, nuts, tomatoes, broccoli, sweet potatoes, and pumpkin. It is also added to some ready-to-eat breakfast cereals. Since this Vitamin contains antioxidants and may help to reduce inflammation, it makes sense that making sure you eat enough of it will help to lower your risk of heart disease. While some studies have found that ingesting large amounts of Vitamin E will have a positive effect on heart health, some clinical trials concluded that the Vitamin was not an effective weapon in the fight against heart disease. When considering the results of the clinical trials, do keep in mind that the participants were older (age 50 and up). More research needs to be done with y...

It looks like your mother was right when she told you to drink your milk. British researchers at the University of Cardiff and the University of Reading have discovered that drinking moo juice regularly can lower your risk of heart disease by up to 20 percent. Milk does contain saturated fat, as well as sugars, but it also contains calcium, potassium, and protein. Vitamin D is added to the product, which helps the body to absorb much-needed calcium. The benefits of drinking milk outweigh the negative factors associated with the saturated fat that it contains. Heart disease is the leading cause of death worldwide, and it makes sense that we do all that we can to lower our risk of developing it. Drink milk more often and lower your risk; it’s that simple. ...

Being overweight increases your risk of heart disease and stroke. If you are trying to lose weight and improve your health, diet alone won’t help you to reach this goal. To achieve permanent weight loss, you need to include exercise and strength training in the mix. Exercising regularly helps improve your health in several ways. It increases your heart rate, which strengthens the heart and burns calories. Regular physical activity also releases endorphins, which help to relieve stress and anxiety. Exercise can also help to relieve the symptoms of depression. Adding strength training into the mix helps with weight loss because muscle tissue is active, which means that it burns fat to feed itself. When you build up your muscle mass, your body is able to burn fat more effectively. Aerob...

The asthma drug Xolair has been linked to heart failure, blood clots, stroke, heart enlargement and cardiac arrhythmias. The Food and Drug Administration announced Thursday that it will be assessing the preliminary results to determine whether “further regulatory actions are necessary to protect patients.” The medication has been approved for use by children over the age of 12 and adults who have asthma that is complicated by severe allergies. The issue of a possible connection between the drug and heart ailments came to light as the result of a trial involving 5,000 people taking Xolair and 2,500 participants who were not using the drug. In 2007, the manufacturer or Xolair, Genentech, was ordered to include a “black box warning” on the packaging to advise patients ...

Most people who die from a heart attack are killed by ventricular fibrillation. This means the normal electrical signals of the heart are disrupted and replaced by chaotic signals that mean the heart isn’t beating regularly and pumping blood throughout the rest of the body. When this occurs, medical personnel have only a short window of time to get the heart beating regularly again. Brain damage or death can occur after only a few minutes of the brain being deprived of oxygen-rich blood. If you are able to get to an Emergency Room after having a heart attack, your chance of survival improves significantly. Approximately 90 percent of people who are able to get to an ER promptly survive the episode, since most deaths from heart attack are due to ventricular fibrillation that occurs be...

Most of us associate losing weight with going on a diet. We think that if we cut back on calories or limit ourselves to only a few “magic” foods we will shed unwanted pounds quickly and reach our ideal weight. The truth is that diets don’t work. If you want to achieve a healthy weight, you need to be prepared to make long-term changes to what and how much you eat…and stick to them. You didn’t put on the weight overnight, and it’s not realistic to think that it is going to come off that quickly. Start by making some small changes, like substituting a baked potato for French fries at lunch or dinner. Plan to eat a salad with your lunch or dinner every day. Permanent changes that you can stick with are key to achieving a healthy weight. ...

If you are going to have a heart attack, the Garden State is where you want to be. According to the results of a new study published in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, patients treated in New Jersey hospitals were the least likely to die or be readmitted within 30 days after being treated. Other states that scored highly on the list of best places to be treated for a heart attack include: New Hampshire Oregon Vermont Washington The states where patients were at greater risk of dying or being readmitted to hospital within a month after being treated for a heart attack were as follows: Arkansas Louisiana Missouri Oklahoma Tennessee No matter where you happen to live, you can increase your odds of survival by being aware of the signs and getting prompt medical attention....