After decades in which the incidence of heart disease appeared to be on the decline, a new Mayo Clinic study published in Archives of Internal Medicine suggests that it may be on the rise. Mayo Clinic researchers in Minnesota used pathology reports from autopsies among individuals who died between 1981 and 2004. The researchers found that the incidence of heart disease in the arteries declined from 1981 to 1996, but then started increasing after 2000.

Reference: Nemetz, PN; Roger, VL; Ransom, JE; et al. Recent Trends in the Prevalence of Coronary Disease: A Population-based Autopsy Study of Non-natural Deaths. Arch Intern Med. 2008 Feb; 11;168(3): 264-70. For more nutrition news, visit our Nutrition section.