Feeding The Heart

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NOTHING IS EVER SIMPLE WHEN IT COMES TO THE heart. First the big worry was a high cholesterol level. Then, it was discovered, cholesterol comes in two varieties, and the real question was whether one had more of the good type, HDL, rather than the bad kind, LDL. Now it appears that HDL itself contains a mix of both good and bad elements. What may really count in the development of heart disease, according to scientists at a meeting of the American Heart Association, is the amount of the HDL component, LpA-I. The more of this protective protein one has circulating in the blood, the lower the risk of heart disease seems to be.

Elsewhere, researchers are discovering that a high-fat diet plays an even nastier role in heart trouble than previously thought. Besides raising cholesterol levels slowly over time, fat-rich meals can send the body's blood- clotting system into overdrive and make blood dangerously sludgy within a matter of hours, thus elevating the risk of a heart attack. The fatty foods apparently trigger production of factor VII, a blood-clotting substance, which in turn sets off a massive chemical reaction. The good news is that switching to a low-fat diet promptly eliminates the increased risk of an artery-plugging clot.