Patients don't understand triglycerides....United Press International - Consumer Health - Patients are woefully unaware of the cardiovascular risks associated with unhealthy levels of triglycerides, a U.S. study found.

The survey, which included 2,089 patients and 510 doctors, revealed that the overwhelming majority of physicians felt patients did not understand triglycerides and were not aware of the differences between triglycerides and cholesterol.

Triglycerides are a type of fat, or lipid, found in the blood that is produced by the body and ingested from food.

Elevated triglycerides are linked to heart disease, kidney disease and pancreatitis. Ninety percent of doctors surveyed agreed that they are an independent risk factor for heart disease......

Benefit Seen for Intensive Statins in Acute Coronary Syndrome - CME Teaching Brief - MedPage Today...[click 4 more]: "Accentuate the statins within two weeks of hospitalization for acute coronary syndrome to reduce the two-year risk of death and cardiovascular events, according to a meta-analysis.

Early, intensive statins after acute coronary syndrome reduced the risk of adverse coronary event by about 20% over two years with a hazard ratio of 0.81 for death and cardiovascular events overall, reported Eddie Hulten, M.D., M.P.H., of the Walter Reed Army Medical Center here in the Sept. 25 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine.

While previous data have been inconsistent in showing a short-term benefit to early, intensive statins after acute coronary syndrome, the pooled analysis of 13 randomized, controlled trials indicated that the death and cardiovascular event benefit began at four months and reached statistical significance by one year..........."

Green Tea May Reduce Strokes, Not Cancer..[CLICK FOR MORE: News Review From Harvard Medical School]:

A large study suggests that green tea may reduce your risk of stroke, but not cancer, the Associated Press (AP) reported September 13. In a study of 40,530 Japanese adults, women who drank at least five cups a day had a 62% lower rate of strokes caused by blood clots than women who drank little tea, AP reported. The reduction was 41% for men. Cancer rates were similar for both groups. Heavy tea drinkers had fewer heart attacks, but the difference was small. The study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Previous research on green tea and health has shown mixed results...."

Protecting Brains After Stroke [CLICK FOR MORE]:
"Stroke is the third leading cause of death in the United States. Currently, there is only one FDA approved drug for it. Researchers are diligently searching for new treatments to protect the brain. Now, they just may have found one.

Michael Koller is no stranger to hospitals. He has diabetes, has had two heart attacks and open heart surgery. 'I have pretty good recovery, and I always have been lucky,' he says.

This past January, he needed luck when he was alone at work and had a stroke. 'I didn't really think I was going to get up,' he says. 'I didn't think anyone would find me where I was...'"

Woman's death in fire reveals stroke survivors' struggle...[click for more]:

"The Stroke Foundation says the death of a woman in a house fire in Porirua highlights the difficulties faced by survivors of strokes.

Stroke survivor Yvonne Moore, 57, died at a Titahi Bay address just before 1am on Saturday..."

Arterial Aftershock..."Long after you've left the hospital -- a heart attack can still kill...[Click for More]

Some conditions don't know when to give up. Case in point: A heart attack can kill you long after you've left the hospital, says new Mayo Clinic research. Scientists reviewed the medical records of 2,000 heart-attack survivors over a period of 6 years and noted that in the month following their first infarction, patients were 44 times more likely to suffer a stroke. Worse, their risk remained high for up to 3 years..."

Coronary Artery Disease [FULL STORY]
"Coronary artery disease is a condition in which the inner walls of the heart's arteries become narrowed by an accumulation of plaque. Over time, as more plaque accumulates, the channel for blood flow narrows. Some parts of the heart muscle may not get enough oxygen, leading to a type of chest pain, called angina.

Eventually, the plaque can build up enough to completely block the flow of blood. More commonly, some of the plaque breaks loose. The body senses this as an injury and forms clots to "heal" the area. The clots can also block the flow of blood. In either case, the area of heart muscle fed by the part of the artery beyond the point of blockage is deprived of oxygen and dies. This is known as a heart attack, or myocardial infarction.

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the U.S. The American Heart Association estimates 1.2 million men and women will have a heart attack this year. In 2003, heart attacks killed 221,000 Americans. Of those who survive, 25 percent of men and 38 percent of women will die within one year. Within six years of a heart attack, 18 percent of men and 35 percent of women will die..."

National Survey Shows Women Overlook Common Warning Signs Associated With Poor Blood Sugar Management, Raising the Risk for Diabetes and Heart Disease - MORE Forbes.com
For women, excess weight in the mid-section, frequent fatigue and carbohydrate cravings may be the warning signs of something more serious. A new survey commissioned by the not-for-profit National Women's Health Resource Center (NWHRC) showed that 75 percent of women ages 40-65 who had not been diagnosed with, but had a family history of diabetes or heart disease, reported that they experienced these symptoms. However, nearly one-third (32%) of all women surveyed did not know they could be signs of impaired insulin function, a key risk factor for type 2 diabetes and heart disease. The most common symptoms experienced were excess weight in the mid-section (62%), frequent fatigue (36%) and carbohydrate cravings (30%).

"When women who don't have diabetes hear the word 'insulin' they tune out because they think it doesn't apply to them. It is critical for women to look at these common symptoms as a wake up call and understand that insulin health is important for all of us," said Audrey Sheppard, President and CEO of NWHRC, the leading independent health information source for women. "Our goal is to educate women about the important role blood sugar plays in preventing disease and how simple physical and dietary changes can help improve their overall health....."

Stem cells show little heart-attack aid - MORE
Giving heart attack survivors stem cells from their own bone marrow did little to repair their damaged hearts, according to the three best studies to date of this controversial therapy.

The modest results suggest more study is needed — and, some scientists say, demonstrate the need to lift political limits on using cells from embryos, which offer more promise for turning into heart-repairing tissue.....

Study Identifies Potential New Marker For Heart Failure Diagnosis, Prognosis....Harvard- Mass General Hospital...MORE
A collaborative study by researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and the University Hospital of Maastricht, The Netherlands, has identified a new candidate biomarker for heart failure with the potential of further improving the challenging task of diagnosing and predicting outcomes for patients with symptoms of heart failure, primarily shortness of breath. In the September 19 Journal of the American College of Cardiology, the investigators report that elevated blood levels of galectin-3, an inflammatory protein, can help diagnose heart failure and identify patients at risk of dying within 60 days. Another potential marker, apelin, did not prove to be useful.

"Heart failure is one of the most difficult diagnoses to make accurately, since it has numerous, varied symptoms, and signs that indicate heart failure are hard to detect," says James Januzzi Jr., MD, of the MGH Cardiology Division, the paper's co-lead author and principal investigator of the 2005 PRIDE Study, from which the data for the current report was generated. "It also is notoriously difficult to identify those heart failure patients at the highest risk of death, so biomarker screening to assist with prognostication has been studied and increasingly implemented over the past several years.............."

New research shows restricting in food intake can help fight disease - [CLICK]

"A new study directed by Mount Sinai School of Medicine extends and strengthens the research that experimental dietary regimens might halt or even reverse symptoms of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). The study entitled “Calorie Restriction Attenuates Alzheimer’s Disease Type Brain Amyloidosis in Squirrel Monkeys” which has been accepted for publication and will be published in the November 2006 issue of the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, demonstrates the potential beneficial role of calorie restriction in AD type brain neuropathology in non-human primates. Restricting caloric intake may prevent AD by triggering activity in the brain associated with longevity.

“The present study strengthens the possibility that CR may exert beneficial effects on delaying the onset of AD- amyloid brain neuropathology in humans, similar to that observed in squirrel monkey and rodent models of AD,” reported Mount Sinai researcher Dr. Pasinetti and his colleagues, who published their study, showing how restricting caloric intake based on a low-carbohydrate diet may prevent AD in an experimental mouse model, in the July 2006 issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

“This new breakthrough brings great anticipation for further human study of caloric restriction, for AD investigators and for those physicians who treat millions of people suffering with this disease” says Giulio Maria Pasinetti, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Director of the Neuroinflammation Research Center at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and lead author of the study. “The findings offer a glimmer of hope that there may someday be a way to prevent and stop this devastating disease in its tracks.”

AD is a rapidly growing public health concern with potentially devastating effects. An estimated 4.5 million Americans have AD. Presently, there are no known cures or effective preventive strategies. While genetic factors are responsible in early-onset cases, they appear to play less of a role in late-onset-sporadic AD cases, the most common form of AD.....

Collectively, the study suggests that the investigation of calorie restriction in non-human primates may be a valuable approach towards understanding the role of calorie restriction in human AD pathology. The present study strengthens the possibility that calorie restriction may exert beneficial effects in delaying the onset of AD. The findings also elucidate the important relationship between the expression of longevity genes like SIRT1 in calorie restriction dietary regimens and mechanisms associated with the prevention of AD....

"Cabernet Sauvignon Red Wine Reduces the Risk of Alzheimer’s Disease"
PRESS RELEASE: Mount Sinai School of Medicine

"A new study directed by Mount Sinai School of Medicine has found that moderate red wine consumption in a form of Cabernet Sauvignon may help reduce the incidence of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD). The study entitled “ Moderate Consumption of Cabernet Sauvignon Attenuates β-amyloid Neuropathology in a Mouse Model of Alzheimer’s Disease” is in press, and will be published in the November 2006 issue of The FASEB Journal. The breakthrough study will also be presented at the “Society for Neuroscience Meeting” held in Atlanta, Georgia, October 14-18, 2006.

“ Our study is the first to report that moderate consumption of red wine in a form of Cabernet Sauvignon delivered in the drinking water for ~7 months significantly reduces AD-type β-amyloid neuropathology, and memory deterioration in ~11-month-old transgenic mice that model AD,” reported researchers Dr. Giulio Maria Pasinetti and Dr. Jun Wang at Mount Sinai. “This study supports epidemiological evidence indicating that moderate wine consumption, within the range recommended by the FDA dietary guidelines of one drink per day for women and two for men, may help reduce the relative risk for AD clinical dementia.”

“This new breakthrough is another step forward in Alzheimer’s research at Mount Sinai and across the globe for this growing health concern that has devastating effects,” say Giulio Maria Pasinetti, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Director of the Neuroinflammation Research Center at Mount Sinai School of Medicine and lead author of the study and Dr. Jun Wang, Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and co-Author of the study. “These findings give researchers and millions of families a glimpse of light at the end of the long dark tunnel for future prevention of this disease.”

People with AD exhibit elevated levels of beta-amyloid peptides that cause plaque buildup in the brain, which is the main characteristic of AD. An estimated 4.5 million Americans have AD. Presently, there are no known cures or effective preventive strategies. While genetic factors are responsible in early-onset cases, they appear to play less of a role in late-onset-sporadic AD cases, the most common form of AD. However, lifestyle factors such as diet and now moderate wine consumption are receiving increasing attention for its potential preventative impact on AD.

Using mice, with AD-type β-amyloid (Aβ) neuropathology, researchers at Mount Sinai tested whether moderate consumption of the red wine Cabernet Sauvignon changes AD-type neuropathology and cognitive deterioration. The wine used was delivered in a final concentration of approximately 6 percent ethanol. It was found that Cabernet Sauvignon significantly reduced AD-type deterioration of spatial memory function and Aβ neuropathology in mice relative to control mice that were treated with either a comparable amount of ethanol or water alone. Cabernet Sauvignon was found to exert a beneficial effect by promoting non-amyloidogenic processing of amyloid precursor protein, which ultimately prevents the generation of AD β-amyloid neuropathology.....

Study Condemns F.D.A.'s Handling of Drug Safety: consumers should be wary of drugs that have only recently been approved...New York Times..[CLICK FOR FULL ARTICLE: FREE ON-LINE NYT REGISTRATION]:

¶WASHINGTON, Sept. 22 — The nation’s system for ensuring the safety of medicines needs major changes, advertising of new drugs should be restricted, and consumers should be wary of drugs that have only recently been approved, according to a long-anticipated study of drug safety.

The report by the Institute of Medicine, part of the National Academy of Sciences, is likely to intensify a debate about the safety of the nation’s drug supply and the adequacy of the government’s oversight. The debate heated up in September 2004 when Merck withdrew its popular arthritis drug Vioxx after studies showed that it doubled the risks of heart attacks....

CLICK FOR TULANE SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
NEW ORLEANS - Soy protein helps lower total cholesterol, low-density lipid "bad" cholesterol and triglycerides, and slightly raises high-density lipid "good" cholesterol, according to a Tulane University study published in the Sept. 1, 2006 issue of The American Journal of Cardiology.

The Tulane study gives strong support to the notion that soy protein should be part of a comprehensive dietary intervention for the prevention and treatment of high blood cholesterol levels. Replacing foods high in saturated fat, trans-saturated fat and cholesterol with soy foods, such as tofu or soy milk, should be beneficial to cardiovascular health.

Kristi Reynolds, assistant professor of epidemiology at the Tulane School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, and a team of Tulane colleagues analyzed data from 41 different studies on the effects of isolated soy protein on blood cholesterol levels.

The studies analyzed by the team were all randomized controlled trials conducted from 1982 through 2004 among adult participants. A total of 1,756 adults participated in these trials, with 27 of the 41 trials carried out in the United States.

Johns Hopkins Medicine
Media Relations and Public Affairs
September 15, 2006

WHO GETS A HEART TRANSPLANT? CRITERIA EXPAND TO COVER OLDER ADULTS AND SOME CANCER PATIENTS

Elderly men and women with heart failure and men with treated prostate cancer are among those who have been historically denied heart transplantation. Now, under new guidelines co authored by a Hopkins cardiologist and issued today by the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT), they can and should be considered.

"People who once would die because they did not qualify now have a chance to get a new heart," says Stuart Russell, M.D., who served on the ISHLT committee revising the guidelines.

"Research now suggests they are actually good candidates," he adds.

ISHLT guidelines, which date back to 1992 and were last updated in 1997, restricted access for cancer patients who been tumor free for less than five years or had weakened immune systems from cancer therapy that precluded them from taking anti rejection drugs for a transplanted organ.

The new recommendations allow some people with slow growing or treated cancers to qualify, and they raise the qualifying age cap from 65 to 70.

Support for the new criteria, says Russell, comes from research confirming that transplant recipients over age 65 have a 90 percent survival rate one year post transplant. After 10 years, he says, 50 percent are still alive.

"Too often, people suffering from heart failure and cancer give up on the prospect of a long, productive life, thinking they have exhausted all treatment options possible, and even their primary physicians are not aware that transplantation is a viable option," says Russell, an associate professor at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and its Heart Institute. Russell has been personally involved in the care of more than 360 heart transplantation patients, including 13 at Hopkins so far in 2006 and another 18 in 2005. He began work on revising the guidelines at the April 2005 annual meeting of the ISHLT.

The expanded criteria follow changes in 2002 guidelines for organ donation, which permitted transplantation of hearts from those over 50, even when the hearts were enlarged or the arteries feeding it were clogged, provided the clot was removed. And they are likely to increase demand for already scarce donor organs.

As of Sept. 1, at least 2,885 Americans were on waiting lists for a heart transplant, according to the latest figures from the United Network for Organ Sharing, the international coordinating body that impartially distributes donated organs. Up to 20 percent of those on the list to receive a heart will die while waiting, Russell notes.

The guidelines, posted at www.ishlt.org, reaffirm the organization=s view that demand for transplantations is unlikely to ever be fully met and that more resources are needed to slow down the progression of heart failure and prevent the need for transplant surgery in the first place.

Russell says new drugs, implantable defibrillators and pacemakers, and smaller heart pumps can assist a weakened heart for longer periods, or until a donor new organ becomes available.

He estimates that the relaxed guidelines could result in up to 15 more heart transplantations for patients in the region served by Hopkins in southeastern Pennsylvania, Maryland and northern Virginia, none of whom would have qualified for an organ under the old restrictions. Nationally, he estimates, up to 400 more patients could now qualify and receive a new heart.

Johns Hopkins Medicine
Media Relations and Public Affairs
September 15, 2006

WHO GETS A HEART TRANSPLANT? CRITERIA EXPAND TO COVER OLDER ADULTS AND SOME CANCER PATIENTS

Elderly men and women with heart failure and men with treated prostate cancer are among those who have been historically denied heart transplantation. Now, under new guidelines co authored by a Hopkins cardiologist and issued today by the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT), they can and should be considered.

"People who once would die because they did not qualify now have a chance to get a new heart," says Stuart Russell, M.D., who served on the ISHLT committee revising the guidelines.

"Research now suggests they are actually good candidates," he adds.

ISHLT guidelines, which date back to 1992 and were last updated in 1997, restricted access for cancer patients who been tumor free for less than five years or had weakened immune systems from cancer therapy that precluded them from taking anti rejection drugs for a transplanted organ.

The new recommendations allow some people with slow growing or treated cancers to qualify, and they raise the qualifying age cap from 65 to 70.

Support for the new criteria, says Russell, comes from research confirming that transplant recipients over age 65 have a 90 percent survival rate one year post transplant. After 10 years, he says, 50 percent are still alive.

"Too often, people suffering from heart failure and cancer give up on the prospect of a long, productive life, thinking they have exhausted all treatment options possible, and even their primary physicians are not aware that transplantation is a viable option," says Russell, an associate professor at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and its Heart Institute. Russell has been personally involved in the care of more than 360 heart transplantation patients, including 13 at Hopkins so far in 2006 and another 18 in 2005. He began work on revising the guidelines at the April 2005 annual meeting of the ISHLT.

The expanded criteria follow changes in 2002 guidelines for organ donation, which permitted transplantation of hearts from those over 50, even when the hearts were enlarged or the arteries feeding it were clogged, provided the clot was removed. And they are likely to increase demand for already scarce donor organs.

As of Sept. 1, at least 2,885 Americans were on waiting lists for a heart transplant, according to the latest figures from the United Network for Organ Sharing, the international coordinating body that impartially distributes donated organs. Up to 20 percent of those on the list to receive a heart will die while waiting, Russell notes.

The guidelines, posted at www.ishlt.org, reaffirm the organization=s view that demand for transplantations is unlikely to ever be fully met and that more resources are needed to slow down the progression of heart failure and prevent the need for transplant surgery in the first place.

Russell says new drugs, implantable defibrillators and pacemakers, and smaller heart pumps can assist a weakened heart for longer periods, or until a donor new organ becomes available.

He estimates that the relaxed guidelines could result in up to 15 more heart transplantations for patients in the region served by Hopkins in southeastern Pennsylvania, Maryland and northern Virginia, none of whom would have qualified for an organ under the old restrictions. Nationally, he estimates, up to 400 more patients could now qualify and receive a new heart.

Johns Hopkins Medicine:

Study among elderly women shows seniors especially may be at risk

ANEMIA AFFECTS BODY -- AND MAYBE THE MIND

For older adults, anemia's trademark loss of oxygen-toting red blood cells has long been linked to fatigue, muscle weakness and other physical ailments. Now researchers at Johns Hopkins have found a relationship between anemia and impaired thinking, too.

"Our work supports the notion that mild anemia may be an independent risk factor for so-called executive-function impairment in older adults," says Paulo Chaves, M.D., Ph.D., an assistant professor at The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the lead author of the study. "If further studies confirm that's true, this could mean that correction of anemia in these patients might offer a chance to prevent such a cognitive decline."

Reporting on the research in the September issue of The Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, the Johns Hopkins investigators went looking for such an effect because previous studies showed that age-related declines in the brain's so-called executive function -- problem solving, planning, assessing dangers, following up on important activities -- lead to declines in self-sufficiency.

"Executive function impairment, which happens often before memory loss occurs, may happen early on in the process of becoming unable to carry on with instrumental day-to-day living activities, such as shopping, cooking, taking medications, paying bills, walking, etc.," says Chaves.

Chaves and his team gave three psychological tests commonly used to evaluate executive function to 364 women, all between 70 and 80 years old, who were living in Baltimore, Md. Approximately 10 percent had anemia, which was of mild intensity.

Some 15 percent of those with the worst results on all three of the tests were anemic, compared to only 3 percent who scored best. Those with anemia were four to five times more likely to perform worst on the executive function tests, compared to those with normal blood hemoglobin, after taking into account the effect of other factors that affect cognition, such as age, education and existing diseases.

"These preliminary results don't prove that anemia causes impaired executive function, nor indicate that treatment of anemia would necessarily lead to better executive function," says Chaves. "However, they are compelling enough to serve as a roadmap for continued research."

How anemia could affect thinking remains to be determined. It could be that it chronically diminishes the supply of oxygen to the brain. Another view proposes that the fatigue accompanying anemia leads to inactivity and the loss of aerobic-fitness benefits to the prefrontal cortex.

The study was funded by the National Institute on Aging and grants from the Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center at The Johns Hopkins University; General Clinical Research Center, National Institutes of Health; and Ortho Biotech Products L.P., which produces a medication that stimulates the production of red blood cells. Chaves has served as a paid consultant for Ortho Biotech Products L.P. The terms of the latter arrangement were managed by The Johns Hopkins University in accordance with its conflict of interest policies.

- -JHM- -

CLICK TO READ MORE: Published September 10, 2006: If you're not yet convinced that fish oil should be slipped into the water supply, consider this: Scientists have created genetically modified pigs that can produce the omega-3 fatty acids normally found in seafood.

Though this omega bacon isn't sizzling just yet, the researchers believe the cloned creatures are necessary because if omega-3s grow any more popular, we'll need to dig up new sources for what some consider the "miracle drug" of the century.

The strongest evidence shows that a diet rich in omega-3s fights heart disease. The American Heart Association recommends fish and fish oil to reduce heart attack risk and to help those who already have had one. They also are suggested for people with high triglycerides, which are important fats found in the blood. Heart disease, obesity and diabetes are associated with high triglycerides.

But omega-3s, nutrients that have antiinflammatory properties, may have a rainbow of other therapeutic uses, including treatment of arthritis, Alzheimer's disease, exercise-induced asthma, macular degeneration, depression, attention-deficit disorder, autoimmune disorders and breast and liver cancer, just to name a few. (See sidebar, Page 6.) Preliminary studies have shown that the use of omega-3s may even help prevent premature labor.

And although it's too early to call fish oil a cure-all....
hat the use of omega-3s may even help prevent premature labor. And although it's too early to call fish oil a cure-all..... "

CLICK TO READ MOREis having a new medicine clinically-tested on two subjects in Russia for leader Kim Jong-Il who is suffering from diabetes and heart disease, a news report says.

An unnamed lawmaker from South Korea's ruling party was quoted as telling the Yonhap news agency that he had been briefed on the drug tests by Kim Seung-Kyu, the director of South Korea's main spy agnecy.

"I heard about it from director Kim at a recent intelligence committee plenary session at parliament," he was quoted as saying.

"His agency believes the two (test subjects), who are same in physique and age as Kim Jong-Il, are receiving the new medicine for diabetes and heart diseases at a hospital in Russia.".....

- Focus On Fiber: How Much is Enough?KPLC-TV: "The average American only gets about half the amount of fiber they need everyday for their body to function optimally. According to the American Heart Association (AHA), fiber helps lower cholesterol and is important for the health of our digestive system. Both the AHA and the National Cancer Institute recommend that we consume 25 to 30 grams of fiber daily. Dietary fiber is a transparent solid complex carbohydrate that is the main part of the cell walls of plants. It has two forms: soluble and insoluble. Soluble fiber may help lower blood cholesterol and reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke. Insoluble fiber provides the bulk needed for proper functioning of the stomach and intestines. It promotes healthy intestinal action and prevents constipation by moving bodily waste through the digestive tract faster, so harmful substances don't have as much contact with the intestinal walls. Unfortunately, many people are not eating this much fiber, which is causing serious cardio-vascular health concerns. Recently the AHA and the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) confirmed that coronary heart disease is the leading cause of death in the United States, killing more people than any other disease. It causes heart attack and angina (chest pain). A blood clot that goes to the heart is considered a heart attack, but if it goes to the brain it is a stroke. The AHA ranks stoke as the third most fatal disease in America, causing paralysis and brain damage. Eating a high-fiber diet can significantly lower our risk of heart attack, stroke and colon cancer. A 19-year follow-up study reported...."

Aspirin, Ibuprofen Don't Mix: FDA: Timing Of Doses Key To Keeping Aspirin's Heart Protection - CBS News Interactive: Healthwatch: "A new report says the heart-related benefits of taking aspirin can be offset if you take it too closely to when you take ibuprofen.

The Food and Drug Administration paper says people taking a low dose of aspirin each day for long-term protection against heart attacks and strokes can wipe out that protection if they take ibuprofen less than a half-hour after taking aspirin. It says the desired effect from aspirin also won't happen if you take it less than eight hours after taking ibuprofen.

On The Early Show Tuesday, medical correspondent Dr. Emily Senay pointed out that ibuprofen is the main ingredient in such over-the-counter pain relievers as Advil and Motrin.

It's been estimated by the manufacturer of Bayer aspirin that 28 million Americans take a small dose of aspirin every day, because it's been shown to help reduce a person's risk of heart attack and stroke.

The main way aspirin does it, Senay explained, is by limiting the blood's ability to form dangerous clots. But the FDA paper says aspirin's clot-fighting abilities can be cancelled out when aspirin and ibuprofen are taken too closely together.

But that, Senay noted, applies to when people take immediate-release aspirin.

Many people use a slower-release form of aspirin with what's called an enteric coating, because that form is considered less likely to irritate the stomach. There isn't enough research yet to know how ibuprofen interacts with the slower-release aspirin, Senay observed.

She adds this is yet another reminder that medications can interact badly, whether they're OTC, prescribed by doctors, or so-called natural remedies.

You should discuss whatever you take, from any or all of those categories, with your doctor, Senay stressed. You also should carefully read product labels and package inserts. In some cases, such as with aspirin and ibuprofen, one product can cancel out an important benefit you hope to get from the other. In other cases, two products that may help you separately could cause serious harm if you take them together.

If you take aspirin regularly to help protect your heart and are wondering, after reading this, whether there's any alternative to ibuprofen, Senay says that's unclear at the moment.....MORE"

New Clinical Data Show Enoxaparin Significantly Reduces the Risk of Repeat Heart Attacks and Stroke in Patients Undergoing Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI)