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Attention all Americans: Too many are at risk of succumbing before your time to the nation’s leading killer, cardiovascular disease. Translation: heart attacks and strokes. After a decades-long drop, the cardiovascular death rate has all but stalled and, frighteningly, has even reversed in a young group of people — adults aged 35 to 64, among whom deaths from heart disease are now rising. (Brody, 10/22)

Struggling to bring your high blood pressure under control, even with the help of medications? Open your mouth and say “aha!” if you see tooth decay or gums that are sore, bleeding or receding. You may have found the culprit. Researchers reported Monday that in adults whose hypertension was being treated with medications, systolic blood pressure — which measures pressure in the vessels when the heart beats — got higher as the health of their teeth and gums declined. (Healy, 10/22)

More than a third of adults in the United States patronize fast-food restaurants and pizza parlors on any given day. And the higher their income, the more likely they are to do so. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has released data on fast food consumption gathered from 2013 to 2016 in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, or Nhanes, a program that continuously monitors the health and nutritional status of Americans. (Bakalar, 10/22)

New York City has announced a national effort to reduce sugar in packaged foods by 20 percent. The city's health department said Friday the endeavor is being undertaken by the National Salt and Sugar Reduction Initiative, a partnership of about 100 health departments and related groups. (10/19)

The sugar initiative has set a target to cut the sugar in packaged foods—including desserts, ice cream, candies, yogurt, cereals and condiments—by 20%. The target for soda, sports and fruit drinks and sweetened milk is 40%. After a public comment period, the program will commence in 2019. The average American eats 17 teaspoons of sugar daily, about five more than they should when based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Some 68% of packaged foods have added sugars which “get snuck into our diet in ways that we would never really anticipate,” said Oxiris Barbot, the acting commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. (West, 10/19)