- How can i prevent heart disease?
• Answer: There are some factors that influence our risk of heart disease that we can do nothing about.
For example, age and sex cannot be changed, yet they have a significant bearing on cardiovascular risk.
The older we are, the greater our risk. Similarly, men are at higher risk than women of the same age—particularly in the years before menopause.
Fortunately, however, medical research demonstrates that we can change a number of factors that influence our risk of heart disease.
The three most important modifiable heart disease risk factors are cigarette smoking, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol.
Addressing all three can make a considerable impact, as was illustrated by a study of some 29,000 Finnish men and women over a 20-year period (1972 to 1992).
When these individuals lowered the cholesterol in their diets, lowered their blood pressure, and stopped their tobacco use, they reduced their heart attack risk by more than half.
Source: Neil Nedley M.D.