The FDA states:"Choosing a healthy lifestyle can help you reduce the risk of coronary heart disease or minimize its damage. Healthy lifestyles include eating a healthy diet, maintaining a healthy weight, exercising regularly, quitting (or not starting) smoking, and minimizing stress."
Heart Disease Risk Factors: Risk factors are conditions or behaviors that increase your chance of getting a certain disease. The information below identifies some of the risk factors for heart disease.
- Some risk factors for coronary heart disease can be treated or controlled and some cannot.
- The more risk factors you have, the greater your risk of developing coronary heart disease.
- The higher your level of each risk factor, the greater your risk of developing coronary heart disease.
The best way to prevent coronary heart disease is to:
- Know your risk factors
- Tell your doctor if you have any risk factors
- Take steps to control your controllable risk factors
Uncontrollable Risk Factors:
- Increasing Age
- Family History
- Racial or Ethnic Background
Controllable Risk Factors:
- Physical Inactivity - People with inactive lifestyles have increased risk.
- Smoking - People who smoke cigarettes have the greatest risk.
- Overweight or Obesity - People who have too much body fat, especially around the waist, have increased risk. Losing weight helps reduce the risk of coronary heart disease.
- High Blood Pressure - Lowering blood pressure reduces the risk of coronary heart disease.
- High Blood Cholesterol - People with total blood cholesterol levels of 200 mg/dL or higher have increased risk.
- Diabetes Mellitus - People who have type 1 or type 2 diabetes have increased risk.
Seeking the help of a nutrition consultant can be very beneficial to a person needing to identify and eliminate risk factors that could lead to heart disease.
(<http://www.fda.gov/hearthealth/riskfactors/riskfactors.html> accessed and excerpted 10/11/05)
