Battling Heart and Stroke

Weight is a major factor in battling heart disease and stroke. There’s a wide range of ways to lose weight out there, from the blatant rip-offs, to the bizarre, even to the dangerous.

But there are also methods that work and people trying to lose weight would swear on or swear at weight loss programs depending on what works and what doesn’t work for them. This study by researchers at the University of Missouri compares 2 of the most popular weight loss programs: Weight Watchers or fitness centers? More →

At last, a new device to help those with coronary heart disease. Coronary arteries are the main blood vessels which supply your heart muscles with their well-needed blood rich in oxygen. Unfortunately, these blood vessels can get clogged up by deposits of plaques. Plaques are made up of cholesterol-rich fat molecules, calcium and cellular debris in the blood. Plaque deposits can cause the coronary arteries to get narrow and can damage blood vessel walls, or cut off blood supply to the heart. Plaques can be classified in two categories:

• Hard plaques tend to stay in play and make arterial walls thick, hard, and inflexible - resulting in atherosclerosis.
• Soft plaques are more unstable and have lipid cores . These fatty deposits on arterial walls have the tendency to rupture or break off and get carried by the blood flow. They are then transported to other parts of the body can cause blood clots and result in a partial or total obstruction of an artery and cut off the blood supply to tissues and to vital organs such as the brain, the liver, or the kidney. When fatty plaques in the coronary artery rupture, blood clots can form which can lead to heart attacks.

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