Reduce Your Risk of Heart Disease

David Colquhoun, associate professor and cardiologist at Wesley Medical Centre, Greenslopes Private Hospital and the University of Queensland in Brisbane explains the easiest ways to reduce your risk of heart disease

At my practice in Brisbane, patients often ask what they can do to help lower their risk of heart disease. Putting preventive steps into action doesn't require a medical degree or prescription pad, nor do you need a deep understanding of the heart. What it does require is the right information, a good dose of commitment and a plan to get you powering ahead.

The reality is that heart disease is a serious issue and by far the largest cause of death for both men and women. It occurs mostly as a result of cholesterol build-up (or plaque) in the heart arteries, which causes them to narrow. A heart attack usually begins when an area of plaque cracks, which can trigger a blood clot, stopping the flow of blood to your heart. This lack of blood permanently damages the area of your heart muscle that the artery supplies. Research clearly shows that most heart attacks and other forms of coronary heart disease are due to poor lifestyle choices and habits.

Do healthy-lifestyle factors really influence your risk of heart disease? You bet they do. Positive day-to-day measures can, in a short time, reduce key risk factors, such as high cholesterol, elevated blood pressure and excess weight. I recently explained this concept to a patient.

"But I don't live an unhealthy life," she said, looking surprised at the very suggestion that there could be room for improvement. "I don't smoke, and I certainly don't drink very much. I rarely eat oily takeaway foods—I can't stand that sort of stuff."

It's something I hear often. You know what it means to live a healthy life, but which parts of your lifestyle are doing you the most good, and which ones are letting your arteries down? Here are some positive steps to help set your heart on a journey to longevity:

Adopt a healthier lifestyle

In two major US studies tracking the lives of 50,000 health professionals and 88,000 nurses, five dominant lifestyle factors were shown to explain about three-quarters of heart attacks. Healthy living came down to being smoke-free, eating well, drinking alcohol in moderation, exercising regularly and reaching a healthy weight. (Our online Daily Kilojoule Calculator tells you what your daily needs are according to your height.)

Interestingly, this long-term research revealed that if a person dropped two of the healthy-lifestyle factors, heart-attack risk almost doubled—a strong motivation to stay committed. Our eating habits often work against us in our bid to be healthy. Our overindulgent Western lifestyle causes us the greatest harm when it comes to risk of heart disease, but the key message is to take positive steps right away.

Include good fats in your diet

This will make your eating experience 'richer' and healthier. A perfect example is the Mediterranean diet, which includes olive and canola oils, and nuts. Also add avocados. Two decades ago, my research group showed that enriching the diet with avocado lowers cholesterol by 10 per cent. We also demonstrated similar benefits with macadamia nuts.

Exercise

The result can be similar to the effect you would get from many prescription medications. Add regular walking to your regimen and you're really hitting your heart-healthy stride. Walking for 30 minutes most days will lower blood pressure by 5 mmHg. It's also been shown that staying active can lift your mood, helping to ease depression.

Prevention, in the form of living lighter as outlined above, is a powerful weapon; the changes you make today can have a major impact in a short period of time.

I'll leave you with this telling example: during the 1990s, the United States embargoed the export of oil to Cuba. With limited fuel for transport, this meant that food became less available to the Cubans over a 5-year period, and they changed the way they got around—they walked! The amount of energy adults consumed dropped, on average, by approximately one-third (4,187 kJ, or 1,000 cal, per day), and the number of moderately physically active adults jumped from 30 to 67 per cent. Adults lost an average of 5 per cent body fat (approximately 5 kg), and there was a 20 per cent decrease in mortality, a 20 per cent reduction in strokes, and a 35 per cent drop in heart-disease fatalities. This event shows that a few simple changes to a country's way of life can lead to dramatic improvements in the health of its people.

Read more about David Colquhoun

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