One of the most important questions in preventive cardiology is whether we can prevent serious heart problems before they happen. The VESALIUS-CV trial, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, offers encouraging evidence. 🔬 What did researchers find? The study...
Do you know how to measure your blood pressure (aka BP) correctly at home? The 2026 ACC Expert Consensus Decision Pathway on resistant hypertension highlights accurate BP measurement as a critical first step. Because if the measurement is wrong, the treatment decision may be...
❌ Myth: Coffee is always bad for your heart ✅ Reality: Not necessarily ☕️ For most people, moderate coffee consumption can fit into a heart-healthy lifestyle. And what you add to your coffee matters too. Cream → extra saturated fat and calories Sugar → added sugar and...
Triglycerides (TGs) are a type of fat in your blood. Your body uses them for energy. They’re carried mainly in VLDL (from the liver) and chylomicrons (from the intestine). Hypertriglyceridemia = fasting TG ≥150 mg/dL (1.7 mmol/L). Very high levels? ≥500 mg/dL is considered...
❌ Myth: A CAC scan prevents a heart attack. CAC is sometimes even described as the “mammogram for the heart” ✅ Reality: Not exactly Everyone knows what a mammogram is. But many people have never heard of CAC. CAC = coronary artery calcium It’s a measurement from a CT scan...
Honestly, the cholesterol world is complicated and almost like the universe 🌌 But there’s a cholesterol number already on your standard blood test that many people overlook: Non-HDL cholesterol (non-HDL-C) Here’s the simple math: Non-HDL-C = Total cholesterol − HDL (“good”...
Beginning of a new week. You don’t need a perfect workout to move more. 🚶 A daily walk counts. Studies consistently show that higher daily step counts are associated with better heart health and lower mortality risk. And pace matters too. A new study of 64,743 adults found...
Sunday Wellness Myth 🥣 ❌ Myth: Cereal is healthy ✅ Reality: Not necessarily A lot of popular breakfast cereals have ~30–40 g of carbs and ~12–15 g of added sugar per serving. “Whole grain” on the box doesn’t automatically make it healthy. And don’t forget the sugar and...
Have you heard of HDL-c? Here is the dilemma of HDL-c—the so-called HDL Paradox: Why raising “good” cholesterol doesn’t necessarily save your heart. For decades, HDL-c was sold as the artery’s clean-up crew. Then modern trials and genetics complicated the story. Very low...
What if your “high cholesterol” isn’t just about your diet? Familial hypercholesterolemia (FH) is an inherited condition that can cause very high LDL (“bad”) cholesterol from a young age, increasing the risk of heart attack and other heart problems much earlier than expected...