We already know that high fat diets, especially those with artery-clogging trans fats, are bad for the heart. Now a new large study finds eating a lot of fat can dramatically raise the risk of stroke for women over 50. The reports shows those who ate the most fat had a 44 percent higher risk of the most common type of stroke compared to those who ate the least.

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As some of you may now, I started FatFighterTV after I had covered the obesity epidemic for years and saw its effects on so many people, especially children. I interviewed families with kids who were not even teenagers yet who had developed type 2 diabetes because of their weight.

So, I’m thrilled to see Diabetes Act Now – an interactive site raising awareness about the risks of the disease. One of the first things you’ll see when you visit are these sobering statistics – 2 out of 3 people with diabetes die of a heart attack or stroke. 2 out of 3!

The American Diabetes Association launched the site to help answer questions about type 1 and type 2 diabetes, and to show patients easy ways to help reduce and prevent complications like heart attack and stroke.

Diabetes Act Now features:

• A personal dashboard to track your progress and choose action plans.

• A library of videos to help you make easy lifestyle changes to improve your diabetes numbers.

• An interactive widget with diabetes-related content and resources that you can access directly on your personal desktop.

There’s also a Spanish version of the site, Diabetes Actua Ya and a Twitter account

November is Diabetes Awareness Month… so help me spread the word about the risks of the disease and this important site!

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You know obesity can lead to a lot of serious health problems, but did you know it kills more than 25,000 people a year in the United States? Now a new study finds weighing too much can take up to ten years off your life.  Researchers from Oxford University in England say if you’re 40 or more pounds over a healthy weight, you may be cutting about three years off your life, mostly from heart disease and stroke. And if you’re about 100 or more pounds over a healthy weight, you could be shortening your life by as many as 10 years.

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Does living near a lot of fast food restaurants increase your chances of having a stroke? New research from the University of Michigan finds the risk of stroke in a neighborhood increased by one percent for every fast-food restaurant in the area. Researchers say they don’t know whether the food itself actually increased the risk or whether fast-food restaurants are just more common in unhealthy neighborhoods.

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Women who have more than two alcoholic drinks a day have a higher risk of the most common type of heart rhythm disturbance which can raise the chances of having a stroke, says a new study. Results show there was no increased risk if women didn’t drink or if they had up to two drinks daily. But those who had more than two alcoholic beverages a day had a 60 percent higher risk for atrial fibrillation.

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