Harvard Health Content API

Groggy grocery buying can make you fat. That’s one possible conclusion from a new study. Researchers gave 14 normal-weight men about $50 each to spend on a morning shopping trip. This occurred after they had been sleep deprived the night before. They repeated the shopping excursion on the morning after a normal night’s sleep. In each case, the men could choose any of 40 foods to buy. The list was evenly split between high-calorie and low-calorie items. They were supposed to spend most of the money. Before both trips, the men were given a hearty breakfast so they wouldn’t be hungry. Men bought 18% more food, with 9% more calories, after being sleep deprived than after having enough sleep. The journal Obesity published the study online. HealthDay News wrote about it September 5.

People having heart attacks are getting treatment faster in hospitals, a new study shows. But death rates have not dropped, the study found. Many people having heart attacks receive angioplasty. This procedure uses a tiny balloon. It is inflated inside an artery to open up a blockage. Hospitals have tried to improve how fast they get the procedure done after someone reaches the hospital. This is called “door-to-balloon time.” The new study included nearly 100,000 people treated for heart attacks. Researchers compared 2 periods of time. Between July 2005 and June 2006, the average door-to-balloon time was 83 minutes. That dropped to 67 minutes in the year from July 2008 through June 2009. In the first year, 60% of the patients had a door-to-balloon time of less than 90 minutes. That jumped to 83% in the last year of the study.

At least 200,000 deaths from heart disease and stroke each year are preventable, a new report says. More than half of these deaths occur in people under age 65. The overall rate of preventable deaths from heart disease and stroke went down by 29% between 2001 and 2010. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published the report September 3. It was based on information collected in 2010. The report also found that blacks are nearly twice as likely as whites to die early from heart disease and stroke. Men have the highest risk of death. The number of avoidable deaths varies by region. Southern states have the highest preventable death rates. To save lives, people need to stop smoking, get more activity and eat less salt. Managing high blood pressure, high cholesterol and diabetes is also key.