It finds that eating an unusually large meal may significantly
raise a person's risk of heart attack.  

Researchers from Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital looked at 1,986 heart attack patients.  The men and women were asked what they had eaten just before their heart attacks.  One hundred fifty-eight of the patients said they had had a heavy meal within 26 hours prior to having their heart attack.  Twenty-five had eaten a lot two hours before having a heart attack.  

The researchers determined that a huge meal increases the risk of heart attack tenfold within the first hour of eating, and quadruples the heart attack risk within two hours after eating.  However, the risk returns to normal three hours after eating, the researchers found.  They say this heightened risk could be due to hormones released after big meals that put stress on the heart.  It could also be that big meals increase blood's tendency to clot.