News tagged with 'Cholesterol'

Food and Drug Administrators are reviewing data that suggests a higher rate of cancer in patients taking the cholesterol-lowering drug Vytorin. Patients are advised to continue taking Vytorin because the cancer link is unclear at this time.

Pericardial fat, that is fat that accumulates around the heart, seems to have more to do with the development of coronary artery plaque than other factors, such as your waist circumference, this Wake Forest study found.   

Citing high rates of obesity, the Los Angeles City Council voted to place a moratorium on the construction of any new fast-food restaurants in South L.A., where 73 percent of the restaurants offer fast-food fare.  Incentives will be offered to draw in establishments offering healthier food.

California is leading the nation in becoming to the first state to take the trans fats out. Today the governor signed a bill banning all trans fats in restaurant and baked foods. A violation will result in a fine. The benefit to Californians should be a reduction in heart disease, the number one killer in the state.

Muscle pain affects roughly one out of every 1,000 people taking statins to lower cholesterol.Now British researchers believe they know why - a genetic variation seems to be the basis for muscle pain and myopathy. About two percent of the population carry the two variant genes, which cause roughly 60% of the muscle pain problem.

The cholesterol drug Vytorin, sold by Merck & Schering-Plough, failed to meet the goal of improving outcomes any better than a placebo, according to a new study. The new data did little in the way of removing doubt from a previous study in January that suggested the combination drug failed to work any better than that of the cheaper generic statin. Vytorin did lower LDL cholesterol. More study is planned.

Researchers followed a group of moderately obese dieters placed on one of three diets - a Mediterranean diet; a low-carbohydrate diet based on Atkins; and a diet with 30 percent fat based on American Heart Association guidelines. The study findings determined low-carbohydrate diets were most effective.

Children display a dramatic drop in daily exercise according to this U.S. study.  Kids who exercised for three hours a day at the age of nine, dropped to about 45 minutes by the age of 13 and it didn't matter their sex, race or socio-economic background. The implications are huge for childhood obesity and the need for fitness programs as kids become teens in school.  

Low levels of "good" cholesterol, or HDL, (high-density lipoprotein) were associated with a loss of memory in this British study. While monitoring your cholesterol levels are recommended for heart health, this study provides another reason to watch not only total cholesterol, but the HDL and LDL levels.

Researches wanted to determine if erectile dysfunction (ED) in diabetic men could be a trustworthy and independent warning sign that more severe health issues may be on the horizon. The answer in two published studies was yes. Those diabetics with ED were 58 percent more likely to have fatal heart disease or a heart attack or other non-fatal heart events. 

Vytorin, despite a $200 million advertising campaign does nothing to reduce heart disease it was announced at a cardiology conference this weekend.  Meanwhile it has healthy sales of $5 billion for Merck and Schering-Plough.

Vytorin, the cholesterol drug, had double the rate of artery clogging plaque formations as compared to taking Zocor alone. This was revealed in a study by the drug makers actually completed in 2006 but partially released today.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today announced that Albers Medical Distributors, Inc., has voluntarily recalled three lots of 90-count bottles of the cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor and is warning healthcare providers and others that these three lots of counterfeit Lipitor represent a potentially significant

Out-of-court Baycol settlements are on the rise despite Bayer Corporation's victories in the first two cases to go to trial. Bayer announced Wednesday that the pharmaceutical maker has settled 785 Baycol lawsuits (27 involving deaths from the drug) at a cost of $240 million. At the time of Bayer's successful first tr

Less than a month after Bayer Corporation was found not liable in the first lawsuit to go to trial over the cholesterol medication Baycol, a Mississippi court cleared the pharmaceutical maker in the second U.S. case to reach a jury. The lawsuit involved a woman in her 70s who alleged Baycol use led to debilitating m