I'm Joe Graydon. And I'm Terry Graydon. Welcome to this podcast of the People's Pharmacy.

You can find previous podcasts and more information on a range of health topics at People's Pharmacy.com.

Fewer Americans are dying of heart attacks these days, but cardiovascular disease is still our number one killer.

This is the People's Pharmacy with Terry and Joe Graydon.

We'll take a fresh look at blood pressure, cholesterol, calcium, and other risk factors for heart disease.

Have you had a coronary artery calcium scan?

Do you know what your blood pressure is?

Was the measurement done properly?

It's surprisingly easy to make mistakes.

Inflammation plays a significant role in heart disease.

Could an anti-inflammatory drug usually prescribed for gout be helpful?

Coming up on the people's pharmacy, beyond cholesterol.

Rethinking your risk of heart disease.

In the people's pharmacy health headlines,

for a long time, American parents were careful to protect their infants from peanut-containing products

for fear of triggering a potentially lethal allergy.

Nevertheless, peanut allergies continued to rise.

Then in 2015, a carefully conducted scientific study showed that infants introduced to small amounts of peanuts

between four and six months were less likely to react badly to them. Pediatricians changed their recommendations after that.

Now, a study of health records of children under three shows that the rate of peanut allergies

has dropped pretty dramatically, from 0.8% in 2012 to 0.5% in 2019. That may not sound like much, but it is statistically significant

and represents a 43% reduction in relative risk. Pediatricians are still cautious about advising

...