OJ may keep the doctor away

Drinking a glass of orange juice every morning isn’t just a delicious way to start your day—it’s also heart smart! Researchers say that hesperidin, an antioxidant in orange juice, may improve blood vessel function and help lower your risk of heart disease. Hesperidin is a flavonoid, and many recent studies have shown that flavonoids are good for the delicate cells that line blood vessels. In a small study, 24 otherwise healthy men who were at risk for cardiovascular disease each drank one of three drinks: either 500 milliliters (ml) of orange juice, an energy drink that contained the same calories as orange juice and a placebo capsule or the energy drink fortified with a capsule containing 292 milligrams of hesperidin (the same amount found in a 500-ml glass of orange juice). After a month of drinking each beverage, researchers found that when the men drank the orange juice or the beverage fortified with hesperidin, they had lower diastolic blood pressure (the bottom number) than when they drank the nonhesperidin beverage. So if you’re looking for an easy, refreshing way to keep your heart healthy and strong, consider beginning your day with a glass of OJ.

A new treatment for heart failure patients

Many people with heart failure get treated with an implanted defibrillator, a device that is used to shock the heart back to a normal rhythm if the person experiences a life-threatening irregular heartbeat. But a therapy called cardiac resynchronization may offer new hope. According to a major international study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, cardiac resynchronization can significantly delay the progression of heart failure, reducing the risk of serious events by 41 percent. Cardiac resynchronization involves implanting a device into the upper chest that delivers electrical impulses that help synchronize contractions of the left ventricle, the heart’s main pumping chamber, with the right ventricle. The study included 1,820 people from 110 centers in the United States, Canada and Europe. All had been diagnosed with early-stage mild heart failure and were randomly assigned to receive either a defibrillator or a defibrillator along with cardiac resynchronization. Compared with the defibrillator-only group, those who got cardiac resynchronization had significantly improved heart-pumping efficiency as well as a 41 percent lower risk of heart-failure events that required hospitalization or outpatient treatment with intravenous drugs. The Food and Drug Administration has approved cardiac resynchronization for people with moderate and severe heart failure, but researchers believe they have shown that some patients with early-stage mild heart failure also can benefit from the treatment.

Daily dose of aspirin may be dangerous

Healthy people taking a daily dose of aspirin to prevent heart attacks may be doing their hearts more harm than good. According to a British study, the risks of bleeding from taking aspirin outweigh the possible advantages. However, researchers did agree that for people with a history of vascular problems, aspirin might be beneficial. The study involved 3,350 men and women ages 50 to 75 years who had test results indicating that they may have asymptomatic atherosclerosis, a condition in which the arteries in their legs were fully or partially blocked. They were split into two groups: One group was given a daily dose of 100 milligrams of aspirin and the other received a placebo. They were monitored over eight years, and while there was no difference in the number of heart attacks, strokes and other cardiovascular events suffered, substantial bleeding occurred in nearly twice as many people in the aspirin group. The American Heart Association recommends aspirin only for people who have a history of vascular problems. Bottom line: Talk to your doctor before starting aspirin therapy.

Simple test can warn stroke survivors of future problems

A simple test may be able to tell stroke survivors if they’re at risk of another cardiovascular event. The test, the ankle brachial index (ABI), compares blood flow in the ankle and the arm and is used to detect peripheral artery disease (PAD), a condition characterized by poor circulation caused by fatty plaque buildup in the lower body. An ABI test is especially useful when detecting PAD in stroke and transient ischemic attack (TIA) survivors, a group of people at much higher risk of subsequent cerebrovascular events, according to a study in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association. Researchers used the ABI to screen 102 stroke and TIA survivors and found that 26 percent of the people in the study had asymptomatic PAD and were three times more likely to suffer subsequent cardiovascular events—stroke, heart attacks or death—in the following two years compared to those without PAD. The symptoms of PAD include leg pain, cramping, weakness and limping during physical exertion, yet up to one-third of patients never tell their doctors about their symptoms and fewer than half of general doctors routinely ask. The test is easy and takes less than 15 minutes. If you’re a stroke or TIA survivor and have experienced any of the symptoms associated with PAD, ask your healthcare provider about an ABI—it’s a simple test that could save your life.