Heart Health Secret: Simple Changes Work
Harvard study looked at 84,000 nurses over a 14-year period
Article published in The Toronto Star, November 9, 1999
Atlanta (AP-Reuters) – Women who actually follow all of the standard health advice – eat sensibly, dont smoke, get some exercise, keep the weight down, have an occasional drink – can reduce their chance of heart disease an astonishing 80 per cent, according to a U.S. study released yesterday.
“Simple and straightforward”changes in eating and lifestyle habits can greatly reduce a person’s risk of heart disease, Harvard researchers told a meeting of the American Heart Association.
But even those most in the know about what they should do, such as quit smoking and eat less fat, are not doing it, the researchers said.
Dr. Frank Hu of the Harvard School of Public Health said his team took information on 84,000 U.S. nurses from 1980 to 1994, checking every two to four years to see what they ate and how much they exercised.
Even though all the participants were female, Hu said he thinks the results would be similar for men.
“We found that the avoidance of smoking and obesity, along with healthy diet, moderate alcohol consumption and regular exercise can cut the risk of heart disease by up to 80 per cent,” Hu told a news conference.
Hu found that only 1 or 2 per cent of the nurses followed all the healthy-heart guidelines, which include exercising about 30 minutes a day, eating five servings of fruits and vegetables a day, lowering fat intake to 30 per cent of calories and drinking one serving of alcohol or less a day. Sixty per cent of them were overweight.
“This was very surprising to us,”he said, noting nurses should be highly aware of health issues. “In the general population, those people who follow those guidelines are probably mucher lower.”
“The researchers’ heart-healthy lifestyle also includes: no smoking; a body-mass index of 25 or less — a 5-foot-4 woman who weighs 145 pounds, has a BMI of 25; and avoiding saturated fats and getting relatively large amounts of fish oil, folate, fibre, vegetable oils and whole-grain products.
While genes can play a role in early heart attacks, they largely result from unhealthy living habits, Hu said.
The study results “are very dramatic, because these are not drastic changes for people,”Hu said.
“Premature heart disease can be virtually eliminated by these lifestyle changes.”
“Heart disease and stroke are the biggest killers of both men and women in Canada, according to Statistics Canada.**
Many studies over the years have shown the importance of kicking cigarettes or cutting out saturated fat, but the researchers said theirs is the first to show what happens when people do everything they are suppposed to.
Dr. Richard Pasternak of Massachusetts General Hospital said the research is important because it suggests that controlling heart disease is possible without any new technology or discoveries.” There is a good chance that we could wipe out this epidemic if we do everything we already know about.”
Dr. Alice Lichtenstein of Tufts University in Boston said one of the biggest difficulties is getting people to restore some of the exercise that have been eliminated by technology.
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** According to Statistics Corbett, all forms of cancer rank second, and all types of accidents rank third. Find a way to avoid these three categories and you could live to be 120!
Non controllable risk factors for cardiovascular disease:
- Family history of heart disease
- Age: Males over 55; females after menopause
Controllable risk factors:
- Smoking or exposure to second-hand smoke
- Uncontrolled high blood pressure
- High fat diet
- High cholesterol
- Lack of physical activity
- Diseases such as diabetes, thyroid, kidney or liver disease