Can you assess your heart disease risk by looking in the mirror and checking for a receding hairline, earlobe creases, and yellow lumps of fat around your eye? Will sprinkling flaxseed on your cereal reverse hypertension? What about popping a probiotic to lower cholesterol?

These are just some of the quirkier findings coming out of the American Heart Association’s annual meeting in Los Angeles this week along with high-tech advances in the diagnosis and treatment of heart disease.