Published September 25, 2009

If you have a heart attack, this unknown test could save your life

Heart attacks remain the number one killer of Americans. You can prevent heart attacks easily by reading and following the information you read in these pages. However, if you do get symptoms of a heart attack (chest pain, shortness of breath, feeling of dread, etc.), it’s vital your doctor know if what happened is really a heart attack.

When you go to the hospital thinking you’ve had a heart attack, you’ll go through multiple tests in the ER. These include EKG and cardiac enzymes. However, sometimes, even these tests are not enough. A new test is available that picks up “missed” heart attacks.

Troponin is a protein found in heart cells. If you have a heart attack it damages these cells. This damage causes them to leak out into your blood. There, your doctor can measure the protein in your blood. Use of this blood test could help doctors pick up an additional 25% of heart attacks missed by conventional EKG and blood tests.

Read More

Published September 24, 2009

Deadly swine flu vaccine doesn’t work — but this does

I showed you last week how deadly the swine flu vaccine can be. Compared to the virus itself, the vaccine may cause significantly more problems. What’s more, the vaccine probably won’t even work. Just like regular flu vaccines regularly fail to work, the swine flu vaccine is trying to hit a moving target. Let me explain.

A recent study published in the British Medical Journal shows how ineffective flu vaccines are in general. Dr. Tom Jefferson, coordinator of the Cochrane Vaccines Field in Rome, Italy, conducted an extensive review of all of the previous studies on the effectiveness of flu vaccines.

Read More

Published September 23, 2009

Sweeten your heart-healthy diet —
and lower your cholesterol even more

As you may know, I talk a lot about diet as the best fix for most health problems, especially heart disease. However, one of the complaints I get from people is that they’re tired of their “bland” diet. Well, how would you like to sweeten your heart-healthy diet and lower your cholesterol at the same time?

You really can do it. All you have to do is add more berries to your diet — strawberries in particular.

Researchers conducted a one-month study on 28 subjects with high lipids. For an average of two-and-a-half years, all of the participants ate a “low cholesterol diet” (soy, viscous fiber, plant sterols, and nuts). Then, for one month, the researchers had them eat either strawberries (one pound per day) or oat bran bread.

Read More