If so, be extra vigilant about measuring and managing your blood pressure and cholesterol.

Filling out those family history forms at the doctor's office can be tedious. But sometimes, the devil is in those details. Because heart disease is so common, many people check "yes" to the question about whether their father or mother had heart disease. But if your father had a heart attack at age 77, that's likely different than if his heart attack happened when he was only 44.

"If you have any family history of heart disease, that should serve as a keen reminder to pay attention to factors that can raise your risk of a heart attack, such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and diabetes," says Dr. Howard Sesso, an epidemiologist with the division of preventive medicine at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital. But if a parent or sibling had a premature heart attack, that's an even stronger signal to be more proactive in monitoring and lowering your risk, he adds. A premature or early heart attack is one that occurs before age 55 in a man or before age 65 in a woman.

Research we're watching

The more physically active you are, the lower your risk of high blood pressure, a study in the April 2017 issue of Hypertension suggests.

Researchers pooled data from 29 studies involving a total of more than 330,000 people, about 20% of whom had high blood pressure. They examined the association between high blood pressure and leisure-time physical activity (walking, dancing, or gardening, for example) as measured by metabolic equivalents (METs).

Do calcium supplements interfere with calcium-channel blockers?

Ask the doctors

Q. I've just been prescribed the calcium-channel blocker Norvasc [amlodipine] for high blood pressure. I also take a 600-milligram calcium supplement every day for my bones. Will they cancel each other out?

A. You don't need to worry about taking a daily calcium supplement with a calcium-channel blocker. In the body, calcium not only builds bones but also powers muscle contractions. Calcium-channel blockers lower blood pressure by reducing the amount of calcium available to contract blood vessels. However, they don't prevent calcium in the blood from being incorporated into bone.

Bottled dressings are often rich sources of saturated fat, calories, sodium, and added sugar.

 Image: © VeselovaElena/Thinkstock

You're eating more salad for good health. But you may be undoing the benefits when you use a store-bought salad dressing.

"I have some clients who say they'll only eat salad if they can use dressing. That can add a lot of calories, sodium, sugar, and saturated fat," says registered dietitian Kathy McManus, director of the Department of Nutrition at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital.

Treating heart disease is expensive. Adopting heart-healthy habits can save money as well as lives.

If you exercise, eat right, and follow other heart-friendly habits, you're probably less likely to end up in the hospital with a heart problem. And — no surprise here — that translates to far lower health care costs. The average hospital charge for a heart operation or related procedure is about $85,000 (see "The price of treating heart disease").

A recent report shed light on the magnitude of the savings realized from heart disease prevention strategies. The study, published in the Feb. 1, 2017, Journal of the American Heart Association, focused on Medicare claims for more than 6,200 people over age 65. Health care costs were about $5,000 less per year in people with the most heart-healthy factors compared with those with the least number of factors. If all Medicare beneficiaries followed five of seven key heart-healthy habits (see "Life's Simple 7") to reduce cardiovascular disease, it would save more than $41 billion a year in Medicare costs, the study authors estimated.

News briefs

New guidelines ease up on the target number to treat high blood pressure in otherwise-healthy older adults. The guidelines from the American College of Physicians and the American Academy of Family Physicians were published Jan. 17, 2017, in Annals of Internal Medicine. Instead of recommending treatment for people ages 60 or older when the systolic measurement (the top number) is at or above 140 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg), the new target is now 150 mm Hg or higher. The physician groups point to evidence suggesting that the higher number is enough to reduce the risk of death, stroke, or heart attack in otherwise-healthy older adults. They say lower (more aggressive) targets provide little benefit unless a person has a history of stroke or a high risk of heart problems (from risk factors such as high cholesterol, obesity, and diabetes). In that case, the guidelines recommend treatment at or above 140 mm Hg. These new numbers are considered controversial; the American Heart Association still recommends aiming for a blood pressure reading of less than 140/80 mm Hg. Bottom line: Optimal blood pressure targets must be tailored to your individual needs. Ask your doctor what's right for you.

Experts are divided on optimal blood pressure targets but agree that an individual approach is the best strategy.

There's no debate about the dangers of high blood pressure. Dubbed the "silent killer," high blood pressure usually has no symptoms. Yet this common condition damages blood vessels throughout the body, raising the risk of heart attack, stroke, kidney disease, and other problems.

But exactly when to start drug therapy for high blood pressure and how aggressive that treatment should be — especially in older people — has been a matter of some dispute in recent years. Some studies suggest that aiming for a stricter (that is, lower) blood pressure target than the current guidelines recommend can substantially reduce a person's risk of cardiovascular complications (see: "Blood pressure research and guidelines: A moving target?"). Other studies offer evidence that a more relaxed (that is, higher) target makes more sense for most people, given the potential harms of drug side effects such as fatigue and coughing, as well as low blood pressure, which can cause lightheadedness and fainting.

Research we're watching

Following a Nordic diet — which features fish, whole grains, plus fruits and vegetables popular in Scandinavian countries — may help lower the risk of stroke, a new study suggests.

The study, published in the February 2017 issue of Stroke, included more than 55,000 Danish people from a national health registry, all of whom filled out questionnaires about their diets and other lifestyle habits. Researchers looked at how closely the participants followed the Healthy Nordic Food Index, which includes six food categories: fish, apples and pears, root vegetables (such as carrots and celery root), cabbages (which also include broccoli, cauliflower, kale, and Brussels sprouts), rye bread, and oatmeal.

Lifestyle changes may reduce your need for pills.

For most of us, as the years increase, so does our blood pressure. By age 60, almost 65% of Americans will have high blood pressure. Although men are more likely to develop high blood pressure between ages 45 and 55, women are at greater risk after 65. Yet high blood pressure isn't an inevitable fact of later life. It's possible to slow the processes that drive blood pressure up. By doing so, you'll also reduce your risk of heart attack, stroke, and dementia.

Blood pressure reflects the amount of blood flowing through the vessels and the pressure exerted by the vessel walls against the blood. In a blood pressure reading, the top number represents the systolic pressure, recorded when the vessel contracts to push blood through. The bottom number represents the diastolic pressure, recorded when the vessels are relaxed. Over time, our blood vessels lose elasticity, and atherosclerotic plaque may build up in artery walls. Both of these trends make vessels stiffer. As vessels become less flexible, blood pressure is higher at any level of blood flow.

A powdered form of whey protein from milk may modestly lower blood pressure.