The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force has issued new guidelines for the use of statin drugs—a class of medications commonly used to treat a number of heart problems. The new recommendations focus on statins to help prevent heart disease—the leading cause of death in the United States—in adults.

Statins help prevent atherosclerosis caused by high cholesterol. Atherosclerosis can cause chest pain, heart attack, and stroke. According to the new recommendations, low- to moderate-dose statins should be offered to adults between the ages of 40 and 75 with no history of heart disease but one or more risk factors for the condition—high blood pressure, high triglyceride levels, diabetes, or smoking, for example. These patients are considered to have a 10 percent or higher risk of developing heart disease in the next 10 years.

The recommendations also include offering low- to moderate-dose statins to select patients between the ages of 40 and 75 with a slightly lower risk—7.5 to 10 percent—of developing heart disease over the next 10 years. They do not include guidelines for statin use in patients over the age of 75.

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Sourced from: MNT

A recent study shows that the way excess fat cells are stored in the body affects type 2 diabetes risk. According to the study, which was conducted by researchers at Cambridge University and published in Nature Genetics, people with the genetic inability to store fat safely—for example, under the skin in the lower half of the body—are more likely to develop insulin resistance and diabetes.

The hormone insulin controls blood sugar levels. Insulin resistance causes blood sugar levels and lipid levels to rise, increasing the risk for diabetes and heart disease. This new study may help explain why some people who are overweight develop insulin resistance and others do not, and why some people who are average weight are also at risk.

Worldwide, 43 percent of people who develop type 2 diabetes are obese, 43 percent are overweight, and 14 percent are at a healthy weight. Researchers identified 53 different gene variants that result in fat storage in and around the body’s central organs, blood stream, and muscles. People with the highest number of these gene variants had a 39 percent higher diabetes risk than those with the lowest genetic risk—regardless of their weight or body mass index (BMI).

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Sourced from: BBC

Early research shows that women over age 50 who follow a diet high in protein from meat may have an increased risk for heart failure. The research was presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2016.

For the study, researchers analyzed the self-reported daily diet information of 103,878 women between 50 and 79 years old, from 1993 to 1998. During the study period, 1.711 women developed heart failure. Heart failure rates were substantially higher in women who consumed the most protein from meat sources—regardless of other risk factors for the condition such as high blood pressure, diabetes, and heart disease.

More research is needed to investigate these results further because dietary information was self-reported using the Food Frequency Questionnaire and may not be completely accurate. According to researchers, this preliminary study indicates that a healthy diet may help reduce the risk for heart problems in postmenopausal women.

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Sourced from: ScienceDaily