heart health

Blog entry

Looking Ahead to February...National Heart Month

On the calendar of National Health Observances, one of the more important events is fast approaching. Now is the time to look towards February, which every year is the observance of National Heart Month. This is the best time of the year to educate the public about heart health. It is a great opportunity to organize a successful health promotion and often it will bring about great appreciation from patients that visit your pharmacy.

Pharmacists today are an important provider of health information. It is a role that many don’t think about. In many respects, the public is so hungry for health information and often they will look to the one member of the health care team that is readily available. Pharmacists are an important provider of health information for patients in order to avoid many of the misconceptions that are out there that can influence public opinion.More »

heart health, National Heart Month, National Wear Red Day, patient information

Cardiologist Isn't Smart Enough to order Vitamin D Levels ~ The Insurance Company

I saw my cardiologist last week and we had been communicating, via e-mail, about the benefits of Vitamin D for diabetes and cardiovascular health [adequate vitamin D levels actually prevent the "foam cells" from ingesting more cholesterol and, finally, bursting and turning into a stroke or MI]. He had written back saying that he was now "a Believer". He found that testing his statin patients who complained about myalgias and chronic fatigue for 25-OH Vitamin D revealed that they were ALL low despite the fact that they were well nourished and had no apparent malabsorption issues. They all got better when their vitamin D levels were brought up into the normal range.More »

25-OH vitamin D levels, aromatase inhibitors, breast cancer, cardiology, cardiovascular health, cholesterol, foam cells, heart health, Vitamin D

News Story

BMI May Not Be Sole Risk Factor in Overweight Patients

06/12/2009

The health hazards of being overweight—as distinct from being obese—are real and should be taken seriously, especially if other risk factors are present, such as glucose intolerance or elevated blood pressure, concludes a new scientific advisory from the American Heart Association (AHA).

The advisory noted that there have been a few papers published recently that show that body-mass index (BMI) in the overweight range (25 to <30 kg/m2), rather than obese range (>30 kg/m2), does not affect overall mortality and that some people have interpreted this to mean that being overweight is not detrimental to health and not in itself a public-health concern. For this reason, the AHA wanted to review and place into context the potential health implications of overweight as distinct from obesity and point out the limitations of relying on the BMI alone as a way of assessing patients.More »

AHA, heart health, Obesity, overweight
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