Heart Disease

Just before he began his speech, cardiologist Joseph Carver took off his suit coat. People in the audience chuckled as they saw his shirt bulging over his waistband. On the table before him sat a plate of what looked very much like whipped cream. He reached into his pocket, pulled out a cigarette and asked the startled group, "Anybody have a light?" It was all just to make a point, said Carver, who gave a talk on risk factors in heart disease at Jeanes Hospital on Monday. His bulging stomach - really a shirt wadded up and stuffed inside his regular shirt - represented obesity.

Attention couch potatoes: Your ticker is running out of time. Inactivity is the most widespread of all preventable heart attack risks, including smoking, obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and excessive cholesterol, according to a report the Centers for Disease Control released yesterday. Researchers refer to such inactivity as a "sedentary lifestyle. " Others call it "sitting on your butt. " "The point is that sedentary lifestyle is the most prevalent risk factor in the U.S., and it is something people can do something about," said Elaine Eaker, assistant director for science at the CDC's Division of Chronic Disease Control and Community Intervention.

An estimated one in three Americans inherits a newly recognized form of cholesterol that is linked with triple the usual risk of heart disease, according to research described at a meeting of the American Heart Association. "We have identified a new genetic trait that may predispose to heart disease risk," said Dr. Ronald M. Krauss of the University of California at Berkeley, who headed the research. Although the gene has not been located, the researcher said its impact on heart disease in men usually begins at age 40 but can show up as early as 20. In women, the condition roughly coincides with menopause.

The blood-pressure-lowering drugs known as ACE inhibitors are a mainstay of treatment for many diseases. But with growing use of these heart-helping medications, more and more patients are winding up in emergency rooms with a rare side effect that most have not been warned about: swelling around the face and neck. In the worst cases, the patient's tongue and throat become hugely bloated, closing the airway. No medications can slow or reverse this swelling, called angioedema.

People who have switched from butter to margarine to cut their risk of heart attack should consider using olive oil instead, according to a Harvard researcher. A new study, the second in recent weeks that sticks it to margarine, was conducted by Dr. Alberto Ascherio and a team from the Harvard School of Public Health. Their research showed that people who eat more than 2.5 pats of margarine per day have double the heart attack risk of those who never use margarine. The news won't please the many thousands who diligently switched from butter to avoid that very problem.

A chronological list of the former Steelers who have died since 2000 under age 60. Steve Furness: Feb. 9, 2000, 49, heart attack. Tyrone McGriff: Dec. 9, 2000, 42, heart attack. Joe Gilliam: Dec. 25, 2000, 49, heart attack. Mike Webster: Sept. 24, 2002, 50, heart attack. Ron Shanklin: April 17, 2003, 55, cancer. Fred Small: June 24, 2003, 39, his motorcycle collided with two cars on the Pomona (Calif.) Freeway. James Parrish: March 10, 2004, 35, cancer.

Whitney Houston officially died of accidental drowning, according to the Los Angeles Coroner's office, that was aggravated by heart disease and cocaine use. Houston had a pre-existing heart condition called atherosclerotic heart disease and the coroner's office found cocaine in the pop diva's system but refused to comment on the level. But the levels indicated that she was a chronic user of the drug. Houston was found underwater and unconscious in the bathtub of her room at the Beverly Hills Hilton on Feb. 11. Pictures obtained by TMZ also showed champagne, beer and prescription drugs in her hotel room but coroner's officials said they were not in excessive quantities.

KORRECT KINDLING This could rekindle the environmental debate in your home. Fortune magazine reports that for those who want to keep the home fires burning while saving the Earth, the Eddie Bauer catalogue offers Firestarting Nuggets "made with pitch-saturated Pacific Northwestern ponderosa pine that has been felled by lightning or other natural causes. " HEARTFELT STRESS Relax! Stress can further constrict blood vessels narrowed by heart disease, according to new research.

The Montgomery County Health Department has received an $84,550 grant that will be used to develop and implement a cardiovascular disease prevention and education program. Gary Gurian, director of the Health Department, said during a commission meeting Thursday that heart disease is one of the leading causes of death in Montgomery County residents ages 25 and above; the second leading cause of death in the 45 to 64 age group, and the leading cause of death in those 65 and older.

Numerous studies have found that erectile dysfunction is a better predictor of future heart disease than well-known risk factors such as smoking, high cholesterol, and family history of heart attacks - especially in middle-aged men. Based on a review of the research, an international group of experts including Allen D. Seftel, head of urology at Cooper University Hospital, is urging physicians to ask about ED symptoms in all men over age 30. ...