New Clues to the Diabetes-Dementia Link

Cleveland HeartLab blood pressure, Dementia, diabetes, diet, lifestyle habits

Doctors have known that having type 2 diabetes raises the odds for developing dementia. Now, new research suggests that the age at which your diabetes is diagnosed makes a difference in your risk. The longer you have diabetes, the greater your chances of having problems with thinking skills and memory down the road. That’s worrying because the average age of …

Go Green for Your Heart!

Cleveland HeartLab diet, lifestyle habits

Spring is still a few weeks away. But you don’t have to wait until then to go green—at least when it comes to your heart. For starters, there’s good news about the benefits of green tea. A growing volume of data ties this tasty brew to better heart health. In the most recent research—published in the journal, Stroke—people who had …

Lifestyle Approaches That Calm Inflammation

Cleveland Heartlab diet, lifestyle habits

You know that lifestyle choices can help your heart’s health. And the evidence just keeps getting stronger. Consider exercise. Physical activity not only improves weight, lowers cholesterol, and enhances the functioning of your heart, but, a new study shows, it also calms inflammation, a major culprit behind cardiovascular disease and its deadly consequences. Inflammation is a key part of the …

Could Food Be a New Medicine to Fight Heart Disease?

Cleveland Heartlab diet, heart attack and stroke, metabolic syndrome

A compound called DMB (3,3-dimethyl-1-butanol), found in olive oil, red wine and other foods, may someday be a first-of-its kind drug with the potential to treat—or even prevent—heart disease in the future, suggests a new Cleveland Clinic study published in the journal Cell. The investigators report that in mice, dietary supplementation with this naturally occurring compound safely inhibited atherosclerosis (plaque …

TMAO Testing: A New Way To Assess Heart Attack And Stroke Risk

Cleveland Heartlab biomarkers, heart attack and stroke, TMAO

A new blood test that measures levels of TMAO (trimethylamine-N-oxide) — a metabolite derived from gut bacteria — can powerfully predict future risk for heart attack, stroke, and death in patients who appear otherwise healthy, according to pioneering Cleveland Clinic research. The new test — now available through Cleveland HeartLab — measures blood levels of TMAO, a compound produced by …