Most Heart Attacks Can be Prevented by Just 5 Things

Photo credit: bigstock.com

Photo credit: bigstock.com

Doctors and researchers are the first to point out that almost everyone can save themselves a great deal of money and pain by simply living a healthier lifestyle. A recent study looked at various aspects of what would be called “healthy living” and the rates at which men had heart attacks, or myocardial infarction (MI).

There are more than 1.5 million heart attacks each year in the US. MIs leave the muscles of the heart with irreversible damage.

The goal of this study was to look at the benefits of combining a low-risk diet with a healthy lifestyle and the impact it would have on MI occurrences for men. First, researchers asked the test subjects to answer detailed questionnaires about the typical diet and lifestyle. Medical records were then examined. Researchers looked for a history of cancer, hypertension, high cholesterol levels, and heart disease. This study involved more than 20,000 Swedish men, all between the ages of 45 and 79, over a period of 11 years.

Some behaviors that were considered to be low risk or “healthy” were eating a healthy diet, not smoking, getting regular exercise, no excessive belly fat, and moderate alcohol consumption.

The Journal of the American College of Cardiology published the results of this study and it revealed that 166 of these subjects who did not practice any of the above healthy habits had heart attacks. Only 212 subjects practiced all 5 of the above healthy habits and only 3 of these men had heart attacks during the study period. Read more about heart disease.

This means that almost 4 out of every 25 men could have prevented their heart attacks to begin with, simply by following the healthy lifestyle habits.

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