Breastfeeding takes it to heart
It's a fact that breastfeeding is great for Mom. Studies have shown it can improve bone density and lower the risk of breast and ovarian cancer. Now, University of Pittsburgh researchers say it may also protect womens hearts. In a small study of nearly 300 postmenopausal women whod had at least one baby, those who didnt breastfeed were more likely to have clogged arteries than their peers who did. Researchers used ultrasound and electron beam tomography to take a peek at the womens arteries. Using that imaging data and adjusting for factors such as socioeconomic status, family history, lifestyle factors, body mass and risk factors for heart disease, they found that women who hadnt breastfed were five times more likely to have calcium buildup in the aorta (the major artery that runs through the body) than women who breastfed consistently. This calcification can be an early sign of heart disease. Researchers think that because a womans body stores fat during pregnancy to use for lactation later, not breastfeeding leaves the excess fat lingering in the body, raising the risk of heart disease. Previous research has found that women who breastfed were less likely to report having heart disease and less likely to develop metabolic syndrome, a group of factors, such as too much fat around the waist and high cholesterol, that increases the risk for heart disease.

Keep moving after heart attack
The thought of exercising after youve suffered a heart attack can be terrifying. You dont want do anything that might put you through that again. But the best way to strengthen your heart after such a traumatic event is with regular exercise, which can boost your stamina and help you keep blood pressure, cholesterol, diabetes and weight under control. In turn, you may be able to take less medication and reduce the risk of needing a heart procedure, such as bypass surgery, down the road. If youve had a heart attack, discuss your exercise options with your doctor before you begin; he or she will have you undergo a stress test to measure the level of activity your heart can handle. (Gentler workout programs may fit the bill if you have a pacemaker or take medications called beta-blockers). Your doctor will likely recommend a cardiac rehabilitation program. This program involves supervised exercisefor example, aerobic activity such as walking and swimming, and strength training such as lifting weights or using resistance bands. It also includes nutritional and lifestyle counseling to tackle risk factors such as smoking, high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels and extra pounds. If your daily exercise routines go smoothly for several weeks, youll probably get the green light from your doctor to go ahead and exercise on your own.

Kicking the habit increases diabetes risk

Those who have tried to quit smoking know that kicking the habit always leaves the door open to packing on the pounds. So maybe its not a complete shock that researchers from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine found that quitting smoking increased the risk of developing the weight-related health condition type 2 diabetes. Almost 11,000 middle-age people who didnt have diabetes were studied. Over the course of nine years, 1,254 of them went on to develop the disease. In the 380 who stopped smoking, the incidence of diabetes was 70 percent greater than among those who had never lit up, and the higher risk lasted for about six years after quitting. Smokers who didnt quit had a 30 percent higher risk of developing diabetes than nonsmokers. The researchers attribute the diabetes risk directly to post-smoking weight gain. In the first few years after hanging up their lighters, former smokers had an average weight gain of 8.4 pounds and a 1.25-inch increase in their waist circumference. Of course, smoking itself is a risk factor for diabetes, so smokers shouldnt think of these findings as a convenient excuse to keep up the habit. The findings should, however, serve as a reminder to keep weight in check by exercising and eating right!

New tool in the works to predict stroke

Researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School may have come up with a way to predict the likelihood of a second stroke occurring soon after the first. Thats a big deal, say researchers, because people who have a stroke so soon after the first run a higher risk of dying or having a severe disability. Also, there is currently no method available that can estimate short-term stroke risk. Dubbed the Recurrence Risk Estimator at 90 Days, or the RRE-90 score, the tool takes stroke risk factors such as history of mini-strokes (also known as transient ischemic attacks), age and the type of stroke the patient had, and combines them with brain scans to generate a score. The higher the score, the greater the chance a stroke survivor will have another attack within 90 days. To test the RRE-90, researchers examined data on nearly 1,500 people who had an ischemic stroke, or a stroke that occurs when an artery to the brain is blocked by a blood clot. They found that the 90-day stroke risk was 40 times higher for those with four or more stroke risk factors than in people with no risk factors. And more than 96 percent of those who had that second stroke had one or more risk factors. Interestingly, long-term risk factors such as diabetes, smoking and high blood pressure werent good predictors of a stroke occurring soon. More research is needed to confirm RRE-90s accuracy.