Tip: Mammograms may warn of heart disease

Under the new health-care law, Medicare covers the cost of one yearly mammogram for women 65 and older. And now a new study has concluded that the exam may provide an early warning not only for breast cancer but also for heart disease.

The study, published in the medical journal Obstetrics & Gynecology, found that women with calcium deposits in their breast tissue were at "a significantly increased risk" of coronary heart disease and stroke. Breast arterial calcifications are common in older women and are usually noncancerous, according to the Mayo Clinic, so the results might not be passed on to you. But the Obstetrics & Gynecology study concluded that breast arterial calcifications should be routinely reported on mammograms because they may be "a marker for the development" of coronary heart disease.