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FIVE MOST DANGEROUS THINGS FOR THE HEART:
ReplyDelete1) Smoke or hang around with smokers! Despite higher cigarette prices, advertising caveats, and public smoking bans, people are still smoking. Smoking is the most dangerous – and most reversible – risk factor for heart disease. Quitting smoking and avoiding second-hand smoke today will lower your heart disease risk to a that of a nonsmoker in just two years.
2) Buy more groceries with trans fats! Ever wonder why that six-month-old pastry stays so tasty? Or how those fries crunch, chips snap, and wrapped snacks don’t expire until after your next high school reunion? It’s all thanks to trans fats, a factory-derived “solution” to fresh food and unprocessed baked goods. Trans Fats offer no nutritional value and wreak havoc on your cholesterol. Avoiding all trans fats will reduce your risk of heart disease and add some real flavor to your groceries.
3) Add salt! Do you add salt to boiling water, stir-fried veggies, or your dinner plate without even stopping to taste the food beforehand? Think of your table salt as coming with a side dish of blood pressure medication. Eating a lower salt diet can lower your blood pressure by five points — which for many people can mean one less prescription. Use that co-pay instead to stock up on garlic, pepper, oregano, and other no-sodium seasoning.
4) Gain some weight! This one is unfortunately all too easy. Processed food, gargantuan portions, and increased screen time have conspired to add inches to our waistline and layers of risk to our hearts. As we grow older, our metabolisms slow. This means that we need to adapt, watch our diets, and maintain our activity levels as we age. Losing just ten pounds can reduce your risk of heart disease by as much as 50% when you consider the positive impact on your blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol. Just ten pounds.
5) Stop taking your medications! There are lots of excuses — inconvenience, side effects, and don’t forget cost. No one likes to take pills. But we know that blood pressure, cholesterol, and diabetes medications not only make your laboratory tests look pretty, but will also reduce your likelihood of a heart attack. Risk factors for heart disease are painfully silent, and uncomfortably asymptomatic. It turns out that you can feel good but still be at risk. Talk to your doctor about a medication regimen that will work for you — and stick with it!
Every Excess Pound Gained Raises Risk of Death
ReplyDeleteDec. 1, 2010 -- Your risk of death rises steadily with every overweight pound you gain, a huge study funded by the National Institutes of Health confirms.
Even if you don't smoke and are in otherwise good health, your risk of death goes up 31% with every 5-point increase in BMI, a measure of body mass based on weight and height.
Just being a little bit overweight increases death risk. Compared to those with a normal-range BMI of 22.5 to 24.9:
• A BMI of 25.0 to 29.9 increased death risk by 13%
• A BMI of 30.0 to 34.9 increased death risk by 44%
• A BMI of 35.0 to 39.9 increased death risk by 88%
• A BMI of 40.0 to 49.9 increased death risk by 251%
Those figures are for women who do not smoke and who have no underlying disease. The risks are similar for men, note Amy Berrington de Gonzalez, DPhil, of the National Institutes of Health, and colleagues.
"We conclude that for non-Hispanic whites, both overweight and obesity are associated with increased all-cause mortality," they conclude. "All-cause mortality is generally lowest within the BMI range of 20.0 to 24.9."
BMI measured before age 50 had the strongest effect on death risk.
Being underweight may also increase death risk, but it's not clear whether underlying, undetected disease might account for this finding.
The study pooled data from 19 long-term studies that followed 1.46 million white adults for five to 28 years.
The strong statistical significance of the findings suggest that an earlier study of the impact of obesity on death risk -- which was scary enough -- may have underestimated the problem. That study found that adult obesity cut life expectancy by four years. The new data show that obesity has a much greater effect on life span.
"In our study, there were more than five times as many deaths among participants in the highest obesity categories (BMI of 35-0 to 39.9 and 40.0 to 49.9) than in previous studies, because severe obesity had become more common," Berrington de Gonzalez and colleagues note.
Smoking and chronic disease have an enormous effect on death risk. To isolate the effects of obesity, the researchers calculated death risk for nonsmokers who reported no underlying disease.
The findings appear in the Dec. 2 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.