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Heart beat: Gallstones and heart disease

Heart beat

Gallstones and heart disease

A gallstone attack, with its knife-like pain suddenly piercing the upper abdomen and lower chest and gradually growing more intense, is one of many things that mimics a heart attack. It turns out there’s another connection between the two: People with heart disease are three times more likely to have gallstones than those free of heart disease.

Your gallbladder makes and stores the fat-digesting substance known as bile. Bile sometimes crystallizes inside the gallbladder. The hard lumps that form, called gallstones, are usually made of cholesterol. Gallstones can be as small as a grain of sand or as large as a ping-pong ball.

Most people with gallstones don’t realize they have them. They cause symptoms only when they block a duct carrying bile from the liver or gallbladder to the small intestine, or one carrying digestive enzymes from the pancreas.

Being seriously overweight boosts the odds of both heart disease and gallstones. According to a study in the April 2005 American Journal of Gastroenterology, other risk factors for gallstones (and heart disease) are a waistline larger than 40 inches for men or 35 inches for women; high blood pressure; and insulin resistance, a prediabetic condition.

If you are overweight, losing weight is the best way to lower your risk of both conditions. Other habits — which also just happen to be good for your heart — can keep gallstones at bay. They include adding plenty of fiber-rich food to your diet, eating nuts several times a week, and exercising.

Last updated:	August 21, 2006