Is cholesterol the main problem leading to clogged arteries and heart attacks? It certainly is important, but a brand-new study suggests that inflammation may also be critical. The study was called CANTOS (for Canakinumab Antiinflammatory Thrombosis Outcome Study). Canakinumab (Ilaris) is a medication that is approved for treating inflammatory diseases such as juvenile idiopathic arthritis. Although it has no impact on cholesterol, it reduced heart attacks and strokes. Lead author Paul Ridker, MD, explains the findings.

We’ve long been told to cut back on salt. But should you really throw out your salt shaker and eat only low-sodium food? One researcher urges us not to go overboard. Sodium is an essential nutrient, and a stringent low-salt diet can have some unexpected complications.

The advice on salt is not the only health guideline that may be under revision. Changing recommendations can be confusing. Do they drive you crazy?

New research suggests that saturated fat, for example, is not the dietary demon that doctors used to imagine. Instead, refined carbohydrates and sugar may be more dangerous. Is there enough evidence to consider changing recommendations on what we eat for good health?

To share your pet peeve about changing recommendations from health experts or to ask Joe & Terry a question, tune in Saturday, September 23, 2017, from 7 to 8 AM EDT or call 1-888-472-3366. You can also reach us through email ([email protected]) or Twitter @peoplespharmacy.

Paul M. Ridker, MD, is the Eugene Braunwald Professor of Medicine at the Harvard Medical School. With a formal background in cardiovascular medicine and epidemiology, Dr. Ridker directs the Center for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention. That is a translational research unit at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. He is the primary investigator of the CANTOS trial, a large multicenter, randomized controlled trial testing the inflammation hypothesis for treating atherosclerosis. The paper was published in The New England Journal of Medicine on September 21, 2017.  You can learn more about his research here and here. The photo is of Dr. Ridker.

James DiNicolantonio, PharmD, is a cardiovascular research scientist at St. Luke Mid-American Heart Institute in Kansas City, MO. He is also associate editor of the cardiology journal BMJ Open Heart. His article on salt, “The History of the Salt Wars,” was published in the American Journal of Medicine in September 2017. He is author of The Salt Fix, and his website is: thesaltfix.com

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