Heart Health Archive

Up to three in 10 people who use marijuana may be unable to stop using the drug, even when it has negative effects on their lives. A 2023 study links this problem— known as cannabis use disorder—to a higher risk of heart problems.

Blood thinners don't "thin" blood; rather, they discourage blood from clotting. Candidates for anti-clotting drugs are people at high risk for dangerous blood clots, such as those with atrial fibrillation or those who have received a stent. Others who can benefit from an anti-clotting drug are people who are immobile after surgery and individuals who have had deep-vein thrombosis (clots in the veins of the legs or arms) or pulmonary embolism (clots in the lungs). A higher risk of bleeding is the main side effect, but most people can tolerate the medication.

A large waistline — 35 inches or more in women or 40 inches or more in men — can signal the presence of visceral fat. Located deep within the abdominal cavity, visceral fat pads the space around the organs and is closely linked to cardiovascular problems. Getting regular exercise (both aerobic and strength-based) and following a healthy, reduced-carbohydrate diet can help reduce visceral fat. Time-restricted eating may also help.

In women, sleep problems—including falling asleep, staying asleep, and insufficient sleep—were associated with a greater risk of high blood pressure.

Taking supplements that contain high levels of biotin (vitamin B₇) can lead to falsely low or falsely high results on a troponin test, a blood test used to diagnose heart attacks.

Diets high in added sugars are linked to an increased risk of coronary artery disease, but naturally occurring sugars in fruits and vegetables are not. Nearly 70% of added sugar in the American diet comes from sugary beverages, desserts and sweet snacks, candy, and breakfast bars and cereals. Consuming excess added sugar promotes weight gain and diabetes and also spurs the liver to pump out triglycerides and other fats into the bloodstream.

For people with chronic coronary disease who do not have symptoms, new guidelines recommend against routine testing with cardiac CT angiography, echocardiography, and stress testing. The results are unhelpful—and in some cases harmful. Unclear results often general additional testing or unnecessary procedures, including some that expose people to radiation for no reason. In addition, the tests add expense without any corresponding benefit, and these costs are increasingly being passed back to patients, in the form of copayments or higher premiums.

Dietary choices can influence weight, blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and blood sugar levels, all factors that can determine a person's risk for heart disease, heart attack, and stroke. Adopting certain eating habits can help manage these factors. These include reducing the intake of saturated fat and refined sugar that are included in many processed foods, eating more healthy monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, and following a plant-based diet like the Mediterranean or DASH diet.

Despite statements like "promotes heart health" on the labels of fish oil supplements, multiple randomized trials show no evidence of heart-related benefits from using these products. In addition, manufacturing methods might make the products either useless or even harmful. The supplements do provide omega-3 fatty acids, but people can get these essential fats by eating two servings of fatty fish weekly or following a vegetarian diet rich in healthy oils, nuts, and seeds.