A heart health check usually results in a cardiovascular disease risk score—a probability that you’ll have a heart attack or stroke in the next five years. If your risk is high, you’ll be asked to review your diet or lifestyle, or be prescribed medications to reduce your risk.

But change can be difficult, so a study has tested whether showing people actual pictures of the plaque inside their arteries is more persuasive than a simple risk score—and been successful.

Looking inside your own arteries could help avoid a heart attack

Specialist and mainstream audiences alike rely on the Health Report to bring clarity to health and medical issues from social, scientific and political points of view.

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While grief effects everyone differently, a small group of people can find themselves 'stuck' in intense grief.

It's not depression, it's known as prolonged grief disorder.

UNSW Professor Richard Bryant and his team compared cognitive behaviour therapy with mindfulness and found that while they both work in the short term, CBT is more impactful for long term recovery.

What is prolonged grief disorder and how is it treated

Researchers have found a possible link between iron and long-COVID

How long before that big overseas trip should you get your COVID booster?

And how a plant based diet may be a positive step with a prostate cancer diagnosis.

Iron for long-COVID, and plants for your prostate

If you’ve spent much time in the wellness space these past few years, you’ve probably heard of Health At Every Size – a movement that prioritises healthy habits over the size or shape of your body.

But while many people have found it freeing, a new review of the evidence shows that, at least when it comes to measures like cholesterol and blood pressure, it’s not enough on its own.

Laureate Professor Clare Collins is from the University of Newcastle.

A 'Health At Every Size' approach doesn't work on its own

A look at some of the Health Report correspondence this week, featuring "stoolgazing" and when to collect your own samples… or not.

You can email us at healthreport@abc.net.au

Health Report mailbag

For people with irritable bowel syndrome, one of the most common interventions is an elimination diet to try to identify a trigger.  But that diet might carry its own risk – of triggering disordered eating – a new study warns.

Dr Caroline Tuck is a senior lecturer in dietetics at Swinburne University

Looking inside your own arteries could help avoid a heart attack

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