Study: Chocolate Pills to Help Your Heart

A new study is being launched to see if pills containing the nutrients in dark chocolate can help prevent heart attacks and strokes.

Chocolate pills

Using Big Data Analytics to Predict Metabolic Syndrome

A new study by Aetna’s Innovation Labs and GNS Healthcare uses “big data” analytics to predict patients at risk for metabolic syndrome. Their results show that lowering waist size and blood glucose have the largest health benefits and cause the biggest reduction in medical costs. Regular doctor visits and medication adherence reduces the one-year probability of having metabolic syndrome in nearly 90% of people.

Big data analytics predict patients at risk

Food Tank’s 13 Resolutions to Change the Food System in 2013

As we start the new year, approximately 180 million Americans have made a New Year’s resolution [1-3]. Two of the top five resolutions for 2013 focus on food, specifically weight loss (#1) and healthier eating (#5).

Ellen Gustafson and Danielle Nierenberg, co-founders of the food think tank Food Tank that launches on January 10th, have also been thinking about resolutions for the year ahead. They think eaters, farmers and policy-makers need new, bigger resolutions to fix the food system — real changes with long-term impacts on plates and in fields and boardrooms all over the world — and offer 13 resolutions to change the food system in 2013.

Food Tank

Gene that Influences When You Wake Also Predicts Time of Death

Researchers have identified a common gene variant that is responsible for a person’s tendency to be an early riser or a night owl. This common genetic variant also helps determine the time of day a person is most likely to die. The findings appear in the November 2012 issue of the Annals of Neurology.

Body clock

Gender, Age Influence Symptoms of Heart Attack

A heart attack, or myocardial infarction (MI), occurs when a portion of the heart muscle becomes oxygen-starved due to clogged blood vessels. This can damage or kill the affected portion of muscle. Depending upon the amount of muscle involved, heart attacks range from mild to life-threatening. The best predictor of whether a heart attack sufferer will survive an acute MI is their ability to identify that a heart attack is taking place and get medical help.

Woman with shoulder pain