My frail, 92-year-old mother was prescribed 80 mgs of the cholesterol-lowering drug, or statin, simvastatin for years. She fell four times in the last four years of her life: the last fall was the least forgiving. Doctors diagnosed her with rhabdomyolysis, a life-threatening condition, and acute kidney failure; she was dead within 8 weeks. Source: [...]

The day Patti’s heart tissue died From the increased strength and frequency of meowing, Patti took the cue from her feline alarm clock that it was morning. Although the sun was just rising, the gentle breeze wandering through her window indicated that it was to be another beautiful September day. Patti got out of bed, [...]

Cholesterol-lowering statins have been credited with preventing countless heart attacks among at-risk adults. More than 20 million U.S. adults now take statins daily, making them some of the top-selling drugs of all time. Recent research, however, has indicated that they might sometimes contribute to cognitive problems, such as confusion and memory loss. And new findings [...]

Heart disease is the leading killer in the U.S., and more than 27 million Americans currently have a cardiac condition. But what is your risk of developing heart disease at some point in your entire life? It might be a lot higher than you think, according to a new paper published online Wednesday in The [...]

After federal officials announced on May 26 the halting of a trial probing whether Abbott Laboratories’ formulation of the B vitamin niacin can help prevent heart disease and strokes, scientists and physicians were left with an  immediate follow-on question. Specifically, was this event just another nail in the coffin of the premise on which that [...]

It’s no secret that along with fast food and other trappings of convenience, unhealthy lifestyles—and their associated health problems—have been spreading across the globe at a rapid clip. A new analysis of more than nine million people in 199 countries and territories puts numbers on the widespread weight gain.  Nearly half a billion adults were [...]

Low cholesterol is generally a good thing. But decreasing the amount of low-density lipoprotein—LDL, the "bad cholesterol"—is only one part of the body’s equation for a healthy balance of lipids. And although lowering cholesterol can be good for the heart, it’s not always great for the brain, which contains about a quarter of the body’s [...]

When your stomach growls and you have the urge to reach for the nearest snack, it is, in a way, your tummy talking. Those signals are in part sparked by the gut-based hunger hormone ghrelin, which blocks certain receptors in the brain, telling your body when it is time to eat. But a team of [...]