Former Georgia Aquarium director Jeffery Swanagan dies from heart attack

Jeffery Swanagan, the former Georgia Aquarium executive director and president, died sunday evening apparently of heart attack, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports. He was 51.

The following is cited from previous reports on heart attack published on foodconsumer.org.

Dr. Carrie Ruxton, who is on the Tea Advisory Council, is listing another health benefit gained by drinking tea, securing its place as one of the few aptly coined “super foods.” Ruxton recently told Mail Online that drinking three cups of tea a day can ward off heart attacks.

Any cup of coffee can be your last one as it may cause a heart attack in some people within an hour of drinking it, a new epidemiologic study suggests.

Researchers of the study reported in the journal Epidemiology said the risk of heart attack was highest among those who drank coffee lightly or occasionally.

Tobacco usage in whatever form is harmful to the heart and significantly increases the risk of heart attack, according to a large international study. The finding held true regardless of whether tobacco was smoked or chewed either firsthand or secondhand, the Canadian researchers confirmed.

Researchers at McMaster University in Ontario found that any form of tobacco increased the risk of heart attack. For example in heavy smokers the risk of heart attack tripled as compared to non-smokers. In light smokers, who smoked 8-10 cigarettes a day, the risk of heart attack doubled.

Seven prescription drugs cause more than 16,000 sudden heart attack deaths each year in the UK, Europe and the U.S., according to a study published in the European Heart Journal.

Among the seven drugs studied, two are antibiotics erythromycin and clarithromycin and the others are cisapride (Propulsid) and domperidone, used to treat gastro-intestinal conditions. Also included are anti-psychotic medications chlorpromazin (Thorazine), haloperidol (Haldol)and pimozide (Orap).

These drugs interfere with the heartbeat rhythms or prolong the heart's QTC interval, and cause sudden death from heart attack.

Researchers studied 775 cases of sudden heart death between 1995 and 2003. They found that 320 cases were caused by the seven drugs. The results indicated that there are 1,200 deaths each year in the UK and 15,000 in Europe and the U.S. 

Researchers found that the risks were highest among those who had used the drugs for less than 90 days, and among women and older patients.

QTC prolongation has already been used as a surrogate marker for the prediction of drug side effects.

A Swedish study suggests that sleeping for an extra hour may drastically reduce risk of heart attack. 

The study found that when clocks were set back an hour on Monday, the number of heart attacks dropped probably because people had an extra hour to sleep.

Not all fats in the body cause the same magnitude of harm. A new study reported in the August issue of the journal Obesity found the fat around the heart is worse than the fat in other parts of the body when it comes to the heart attack risk.

The study led by researchers from Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center showed pericardial fat was associated with the calcified plaque in the arteries. This type of plaque is associated with less stable fatty deposits that lead to heart attack and stroke.

A study published in Circulation, the journal of the American Heart Association showed that those who used Western diet had a 35 percent increased risk of heart attack than those who consumed little fried food and meat.  

The study led by Salim Yusuf, D.Phil. at McMaster University in Canada and colleagues was menat to examine the association between dietary patterns and risk of heart attack in about 16,000 people in 52 countries. 

Western diet has been linked to many chronic diseases.

 Taking vitamin D supplements or getting enough exposure to sunlight may help reduce risk of myocardial infarction (heart attack), according to a new study in the June 9 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Studies have shown the rate of cardiovascular disease-related death is higher in regions located at higher latitudes and during the winter time, and lower at high altitudes, according to the background information in the study report.

A new study suggests that bisphenol A could be more harmful than thought. It has found that the chemical at the level found commonly found in humans' blood can suppress a hormone that protects people from heart attacks and type 2 disease. 

The study appeared online in Environmental Health Perspectives August 14, a day before the Food and Drug Administration claimed that bisphenol A is safe at current exposure levels. 

Early studies revealed that bisphenol A has a wide array of adverse effects in lab animals including reproductive problems, certain cancers and asthma.