TUESDAY, Nov. 3 (HealthDay News) -- Statins may boost the risk of fatigue and shortness of breath in some patients with heart failure, a new study suggests. But a second report found the cholesterol-reducing drugs reduce the risk of clots in those with cardiovascular disease, and experts think the benefits outweigh the risks.

Dr. Gregg C. Fonarow, a professor of cardiology at the University of California at Los Angeles, said patients shouldn't reconsider their use of the statins based on the results of the small U.S. study.

"Patients with heart failure who have an indication for statin therapy, such as coronary artery disease or diabetes, should remain on physician-prescribed statin therapy," Fonarow said.

At issue is treatment for heart failure, a condition that occurs when the heart fails to beat properly. An estimated 5.7 million people in the United States suffer from heart failure, which can cause fatigue, shortness of breath and fluid build-up in the lungs and legs.

"Approximately two-thirds of patients with heart failure have coronary artery disease," Fonarow said. "In these patients, statins, while not improving overall survival, have been shown to lower the risk of a cardiovascular event and decrease the likelihood of being hospitalized. In patients with heart failure but without vascular disease, neither benefit nor harm has been demonstrated in clinical trials of statin therapy."

Researchers at Northeastern University and Massachusetts General Hospital looked at the medical records of 136 patients with heart failure. They wanted to see how statin use, mainly of the drug atorvastatin (Lipitor), affected two types of heart failure -- systolic and diastolic.

Fonarow explained that the heart fails to contract normally in people with systolic heart failure. In those with diastolic heart failure, the heart may not relax properly or be abnormally stiff, he said.

The study findings were to be released this week at the American College of Chest Physicians annual meeting, in San Diego.

Those who had diastolic heart failure and took a cholesterol drug had almost half as much exercise tolerance as those with the condition who didn't take the drugs, the researchers found.

"Some patients with diastolic heart failure may be more prone to the adverse effect of statins on muscle. It may be that patients with particular preexisting factors will experience unfavorable results from statin therapy, including exercise intolerance, dyspnea [shortness of breath], and fatigue," study author Lawrence P. Cahalin, a researcher at Northeastern University, said in a statement.

"Not all statins are alike, and not all patients are alike. Some statins are stronger than others and are likely to act differently, given particular patient characteristics, and produce different degrees of wanted and unwanted effects," Cahalin said. "In our continuing study, we hope to identify patient characteristics that are associated with favorable and less than favorable results from statin therapy."

For now, Cahalin said tests are in order if heart failure patients taking statins suffer from fatigue, shortness of breath and inability to exercise for very long.

In another study to be released at the meeting, researchers report that statins may help prevent blood clots in people with cardiovascular disease.

Previous research has linked atherosclerosis, a condition in which fatty material builds up along artery walls, and venous thrombosis (VTE). Researchers from Albert Einstein Medical Center in Philadelphia, who were investigating the association between statin use and incidence of VTE, reviewed data on 593 patients who were hospitalized for heart attack or ischemic stroke.

"In our study, statin therapy demonstrated a protective effect on this group of patients, reducing their overall incidence of developing VTE," said study author Dr. Danai Khemasuwan.

Patients in the non-statin group were three times as likely to develop VTE as patients receiving statins, they found.

Given the good news/bad news conclusions of these two reports, patients should not panic, experts said. Statins provide significant benefits for patients with cardiovascular disease, Dr. Kalpalatha Guntupalli, president of the American College of Chest Physicians, said in a statement. However, as for any new medication prescribed, clinicians should closely monitor the effects that different types of statins have on individual patients.

More information

For more about heart failure, try the American Heart Association  .

FRIDAY, Oct. 30 (HealthDay News) -- Here's a new reason to put down that sugary soft drink: Research suggests that a diet high in fructose, a common sweetener, boosts the risk of high blood pressure.

High-fructose corn syrup is found in many processed foods and beverages. Americans consume 30 percent more fructose now than 20 years ago, and researchers have linked higher fructose consumption to the growing obesity epidemic. But scientists weren't sure if a connection existed between fructose consumption and high blood pressure.

In a new study, Dr. Diana Jalal, of the University of Colorado Denver Health Sciences Center, and colleagues studied 4,528 adults without a history of high blood pressure. They examined their fructose intake and found that those who consumed more than 74 grams of fructose per day -- that's the equivalent of the amount in 2.5 sweetened soft drinks -- boosted their risk of high blood pressure by 28 percent to 87 percent, depending on the level of hypertension.

"These results indicate that high fructose intake in the form of added sugars is significantly and independently associated with higher blood pressure levels in the U.S. adult population with no previous history of hypertension," the study authors wrote, adding that future research is needed to determine if lowering fructose intake will also lower blood pressure.

The study findings were scheduled to be presented at the American Society of Nephrology's annual meeting, held Oct. 27 to Nov. 1 in San Diego.

More information

Learn about high blood pressure from the American Heart Association  .

WEDNESDAY, Oct. 28 (HealthDay News) -- Smoking just one cigarette stiffens the arteries of young adults by 25 percent, says a new study.

The stiffer a person's arteries, the greater their risk for heart disease or stroke, noted researcher Dr. Stella Daskalopoulou, an internal medicine and vascular medicine specialist at McGill University Health Center in Montreal.

She measured arterial stiffness in smokers and non-smokers, ages 18 to 30, at rest and after exercise. To establish a baseline measurement, the smokers, who smoked five to six cigarettes a day, were asked to refrain from having a cigarette for 12 hours before their first exercise test. Before the second exercise test, smokers were allowed to have one cigarette. Before the final test, they were asked to chew a piece of nicotine gum.

After exercise, arterial stiffness in non-smokers decreased 3.6 percent. But the smokers' arterial stiffness increased 2.2 percent after exercise. In smokers, arterial stiffness increased 12.6 percent after they chewed nicotine gum and 24.5 percent after they had one cigarette.

There was no difference in arterial stiffness between smokers and non-smokers at rest.

"Our results are significant because they suggest that smoking just a few cigarettes a day impacts the health of the arteries," Daskalopoulou said in a news release from the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada. "This was revealed very clearly when these young people were placed under physical stress, such as exercise."

"In effect, this means that even light smoking in otherwise young healthy people can damage the arteries, compromising the ability of their bodies to cope with physical stress, such as climbing a set of stairs or running to catch a bus," she said. "It seems that this compromise to respond to physical stress occurs first, before the damage of the arteries becomes evident at rest."

The study was to be presented Oct. 27 at the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress 2009.

More information

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more about the health effects of smoking.

FRIDAY, Oct. 23 (HealthDay News) -- If you're tempted to raid your child's Halloween candy stash at the end of this month, here's one reason you might not have to restrain yourself.

Spanish researchers put 42 men and women on a diet that included 40 grams of unsweetened cocoa powder (about 1.4 ounces) mixed with skim milk daily, or plain skim milk. After one month, those who drank the cocoa-flavored milk had lower levels of inflammatory markers associated with heart disease than those drinking the milk alone.

That result was critical because the participants, whose average age was about 70, were at high risk of cardiovascular disease because they had diabetes and three or more risk factors for heart disease, including smoking, high blood pressure, high levels of LDL "bad" cholesterol (more than 160 milligrams per deciliter), low levels of HDL "good" cholesterol (below 35 milligrams per deciliter), obesity or a family history of early coronary heart disease.

The inflammatory markers, called adhesion molecules, are proteins that cause white blood cells to stick to the walls of the arteries, which can lead to the formation of atherosclerotic plaques, explained Shelley McGuire, an associate professor of food science and nutrition at Washington State University and a spokeswoman for the American Society for Nutrition.

"One of the major strengths of the study was they were measuring adhesion molecules, which we have recently learned are very important in the formation of atherosclerosis," McGuire said. "Another strength is that the study was randomized and controlled. Because of this, we can pretty confidently say there was something in the cocoa powder that had an effect."

The researchers also found that the cocoa powder group had an increase in HDL cholesterol, which can help reduce levels of LDL cholesterol and has been shown to have anti-inflammatory, antioxidant properties.

The study is published in the November issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

During the study, participants didn't take additional vitamins or supplements, and the only cocoa-containing products they consumed were those provided by researchers.

Previous research has suggested chocolate may be beneficial for heart health because it contains anti-inflammatory chemicals called polyphenols. Polyphenols are also found in wine, coffee and tea, along with fruits and vegetables such as apples, broccoli, onions, blueberries, blackberries, cherries, strawberries, plums and red grapes, said Connie Diekman, director of university nutrition at Washington University in St. Louis.

"One of the best ways to get plenty of polyphenols is to consume lots of fruits and vegetables," Diekman said.

The researchers noted the anti-inflammatory effects derived from cocoa were modest compared to those observed for other foods rich in polyphenols, such as wine.

And before you start inhaling candy bars, which are high in fat and calories, researchers noted that study participants were given non-fat, sugar-free cocoa powder and skim milk. Even then, they gained a small amount of weight.

In the study, the chocolate milk contained about 136 calories. If adding cocoa to your diet, be sure to reduce calories somewhere else, or get some extra exercise.

"My recommendation, as a registered dietitian, would be for people to look at cocoa -- whether in the form of cocoa or chocolate -- as a part of a healthful eating plan, not a magic bullet for reducing inflammation," Diekman said. "If including cocoa and small amounts of chocolate in an otherwise healthful eating plan helps people enjoy what they eat and stick with that plan, then these things can fit."

In findings that should come as no surprise, researchers noted that "adherence to the dietary protocol was excellent."

More information

The National Confectioners Association   has more on cocoa.