Journal of internal medicine
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To assess the long-term effects of chocolate consumption amongst patients with established coronary heart disease. ⋯ Chocolate consumption was associated with lower cardiac mortality in a dose dependent manner in patients free of diabetes surviving their first AMI. Although our findings support increasing evidence that chocolate is a rich source of beneficial bioactive compounds, confirmation of this strong inverse relationship from other observational studies or large-scale, long-term, controlled randomized trials is needed.
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Multicenter Study
Serum amyloid A is independently associated with metabolic risk factors but not with early atherosclerosis: the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study.
Serum amyloid A (SAA) is a sensitive marker of inflammation and its elevation has been implicated in obesity and in cardiovascular disease, yet data on its regulation in young adults or on its role in early atherosclerosis is scarce. We investigated which factors explain the variation in SAA and analysed whether SAA could be associated with preclinical atherosclerosis. ⋯ Serum amyloid A was associated with several metabolic risk factors but was not an independent predictor of IMT or carotid artery compliance. Further longitudinal studies will show whether SAA holds a prognostic value as a risk marker, analogously to CRP.