Ever wonder how healthy your heart is? There's a fairly easy way to get an accurate answer, says Men's Health magazine, citing a recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine.

After following over 5,700 men for 23 years, researchers concluded that the faster your rate drops after exercise, the lower your risk of dying of a heart attack. To perform the calculation, first take note of your heart rate at exactly one minute after you've finished your workout. Then, take that number and subtract it from the maximum heart rate you reached during the workout. If the difference is more than 35bpm, there's a good chance you do not face an increased risk.

If, however, it is less than 35bpm, the study suggests there's need for caution. Specifically, if the difference is between 31-35bpm, your risk is increased by 40 percent; 25-30bpm, risk increase is 30 percent; less than 25bpm, risk increase is 110 percent.

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What is cholesterol? We talk about it all the time, but do we really know what it is? And how does it effect our bodies? Now, I'm not a doctor, and I'm definitely not a scientist, but I am curious -- so I looked it up.

Cholesterol is made by the liver. Just about every animal that is eaten for food produces cholesterol in this manner. After it's produced in your own body, or absorbed from the food you eat, it's then carried through the bloodstream by particles known as lipoproteins. These particles are also produced in the liver, so it kind of works out quite nicely in that way. Anyway, from these lipoproteins are made up of fat and protein. However, what they contain more of determines if they are "bad" or "good." If they contain a higher proportion of fat, they can stick to your blood vessel walls as they speed through your veins and arteries. Over time, this accumulates and forms hardened plaque, thus reducing the flow of blood to your heart -- and hence the "bad" label. On the other hand, lipoproteins that contain a higher proportion of protein serve a different and much healthier function. Their main task is to carry cholesterol away from your heart and out of the body. The higher your levels of this "good" lipoproteins, the lower your risk of dying from a heart attack.

That's just about the best way I can explain it. Not exactly ready for the New England Journal of Medicine, but not bad for a blog post, if I say so myself.

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If you have heart disease, do not exercise near heavy traffic. A workout indoors is a better option.

A European study recently released in the New England Journal of Medicine examined 20 males around the age of 60. Participants had experienced an earlier heart attack, had stents to keep the pipes clear, and were being treated to prevent a second heart attack. Now I hope they paid these guys some decent cash because each man rode a stationary bike in an enclosed chamber while breathing diluted diesel exhaust or clean, filtered air.

The hearts of the diesel exhaust inhalers had a drop in electrical activity two to six times more than when breathing the good stuff. Why the drop? The heart muscles were not getting enough blood. This is called exercise-induced ischemia, and the condition can trigger heart attack and possible death. Experts believe diesel exhaust particulates are to blame. An earlier U.S. study in 2000 also pointed the finger at microscopic air particulates, such as those found in diesel exhaust. Those darn trucks!

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The Week magazine ran a controversial article entitled "The Corruption of Medicine" last week.

Cases of biased research of pharmaceutical drugs are rampant and getting worse. These are not small offenses, but problems that have caused many patients their lives.

By now, the case of Vioxx is well known. This drug, created to ease the pain of osteoarthritis and other illnesses was rushed to market using FDA data based on studies done by Merck's own employees. Later, we found out that Merck had information before the approval process that Vioxx did cause heart-attack deaths, but they hid it from the FDA. The drug was eventually withdrawn, after causing over 88,000 heart attacks in patients, with an estimate of at least 26,000 deaths.

But the article contains many more surprises.

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