By Serena Gordon
HealthDay Reporter
MONDAY, May 21 (HealthDay News) — Many American teenagers, including some with a normal, healthy weight, already have one or more risk factors for heart disease, researchers say.
About 22 percent of today’s teens have borderline-high or already high LDL cholesterol — that’s the bad type. And 15 percent have pre-diabetes or diabetes, according to the new research based on data spanning from 1999 to 2008.
By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter
TUESDAY, Feb. 28 (HealthDay News) — The popular cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins will now come with revised labels warning of a slight increased risk of elevated blood sugar levels, which could lead to type 2 diabetes, as well as a warning on rare cases of confusion and memory loss, U.S. drug regulators said Tuesday.
But the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which made the announcement, and health-care professionals all stressed that the heart-protective benefits of statins — which include drugs such as Crestor, Lipitor, Pravachol and Zocor — far outweigh the risks spelled out on the new labels. Read More
By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter
THURSDAY, Feb. 2 (HealthDay News) — Be wary of buying the cholesterol-lowering drugs known as statins on the Internet, British researchers say.
Common statins such as Lipitor, Crestor or Zocor may not be the same as advertised and sites often don’t include warnings about side effects or even require a prescription, the researchers noted.
By Steven Reinberg
HealthDay Reporter
MONDAY, Jan. 30 (HealthDay News) — Cholesterol-lowering drugs known as statins are equally effective in men and women, a new study finds.
For both males and females, these drugs lowered the risk of a heart attack by about 20 percent, the researchers say. Previously, some thought that statins, which include Lipitor, Lovastatin and Crestor, benefited women less than men.
By Jenifer Goodwin
HealthDay Reporter
WEDNESDAY, Dec. 28 (HealthDay News) — Older adults with high levels of omega-3 fatty acids and vitamins B, C, D and E in their blood performed better on certain measures of thinking abilities, and also tended to have larger brain volume, a new study finds.
Seniors with high levels of trans fats in their blood fared worse on certain thinking tests than those with lower levels of the unhealthy fats, and also had more brain shrinkage.
THURSDAY, Dec. 1 (HealthDay News) — The first generic version of the cholesterol-lowering statin Lipitor (atorvastatin calcium) has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Drug maker Ranbaxy Laboratories, based in India, has gained approval to produce the tablets in 10 milligram (mg), 20 mg, 40 mg and 80 mg strengths, the FDA said in a news release. The agency stressed that makers of generic drugs are required to pass the same production- and packaging-quality standards as producers of brand-name drugs.
THURSDAY, Nov. 17 (HealthDay News) — Inflammation caused by psoriasis may trigger changes in a person’s cholesterol, including weakening the function of high-density lipoprotein (HDL), the “good” cholesterol, new research suggests.
The researchers said that, if confirmed, their findings could help explain why people with psoriasis — a chronic skin condition — are at greater risk for heart attack, stroke and cardiovascular death, especially if the psoriasis is moderate to severe.
By Denise Mann
HealthDay Reporter
MONDAY, Nov. 14 (HealthDay News) — Preliminary research suggests that a single injection of a man-made protein might lower levels of “bad” cholesterol.
Given in the abdomen, AMG145 reduced low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels among a group of healthy volunteers. The shot turned off a newly identified cholesterol regulator, PCSK9, which interferes with the liver’s ability to clear bad cholesterol from the bloodstream.
FRIDAY, Nov. 11 (HealthDay News) — All U.S. children between the ages of 9 and 11 should be screened for high cholesterol, according to new guidelines endorsed by the nation’s leading group of pediatricians.
The recommendations are a major shift from current guidelines that suggest such testing be done only for children who have a family history of heart disease or high blood cholesterol, which is one of the major risk factors for heart disease.
WEDNESDAY, November 9, 2011 (Health.com) — Consuming less sodium has been shown to lower blood pressure, but for many people the health benefits this provides may be offset by a slight uptick in their cholesterol levels, a new analysis of previous research suggests.
The analysis, which was conducted by Danish researchers and published this week in the American Journal of Hypertension, found that sharply reducing sodium intake increases a person’s total cholesterol by about 2.5%, on average—potentially upping the risk of heart disease and heart attacks, the researchers say. Read More
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