Heart disease is the number one killer of women in the U.S. That’s still surprising to some, but consider this: the likelihood a woman will die of breast cancer is about 1 in 30. The chance that she will die from heart disease is 1 in 3. That means it’s never too early to take your risks seriously.

Rheumatoid arthritis means living with painful joints. It also carries a higher risk for heart and blood vessel disease due to higher blood levels of homocysteine. But why so high? It comes down to a simple vitamin deficiency caused by medicines that treat it…

A new drug has been shown particularly effective at reducing the risk of fracture in women with severe osteoporosis. Great news, but there’s a catch: a 30 percent increased risk of heart attack, not to mention elevated risks for hypertension, diabetes and stroke…

Oxidation in the body is the start of a chain reaction that ends in hardened arteries, stroke, heart disease or worse. Just as it turns an apple brown or causes metal to rust, oxidation causes harm in our bodies. The good news is that oxidative stress is largely preventable…

When it comes to cholesterol, we need to keep the following balance: high levels of HDL (“good”) cholesterol, low levels of LDL (“bad”) cholesterol. A great way to do that is through a healthy diet, including healthy fats. If your LDL is making that difficult, reach for these seed oils…

It’s hard to understand how a nutrient required for a healthy body can sometimes go awry. You may have read about what happens when calcium collects in arteries, the heart and kidneys, and even joints. But you may not have heard of the cancer connection…

Sugar and fat. These ingredients are the fuel behind diabetes, fatty liver disease and heart disease. Yet we crave them, so much so that you might even think that sugar hijacks your brain, causing you to eat more and more of it. According to the research, you’d be correct.

Heart problems have long been associated with men, and research may be to blame. A decade’s worth of cardiovascular studies found only about 38 percent of subjects were women. But one group dug deep and found advice that could lower a woman’s unique risk by almost 25 percent.

Many studies on exercise to improve heart health focus on young adults and high-intensity workouts. But for older adults, exercise choices can be limited. If you had to choose between walking, Nordic walking or golfing, which do you think would improve the numbers your doctor looks at?

You can manage a lot of lifestyle-related risk factors for heart problems. That can be true even if you have a family history or genetic predisposition. But there are just some risk factors that are tougher to deal with, like the shape of your heart…

If you have heart surgery coming up, the last thing you want is complications. If everything goes smoothly, you can get home and back to normal life faster. But before the hospital will discharge you they have some criteria you must meet. That’s where a stick of gum will come in handy.

In Rome, walnuts were considered the food of the gods. Considering what we now know of their exceptional heart health benefits, there’s good reason to hold them in such high regard. But the biggest benefit may come from the nuts special relationship with your gut…