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Senior Citizen Health & Medicine
Older Men Can Make Big Gains to Avoid Heart Disease
Risk with Five Habits
 July 7, 2006 - Middle-aged and older men who
practiced five healthy lifestyle behaviors during a 16-year period had a
significantly lower risk of developing heart disease than men who had
fewer healthy habits, according to a study reported in Circulation:
Journal of the American Heart Association. Even those receiving
treatment for high blood pressure or high cholesterol experienced a
reduced risk.
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Many healthy lifestyle factors are associated with
a lower risk of coronary heart disease, said Stephanie Chiuve, Sc.D.,
lead author of the study and a research fellow in the Department of
Nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, Mass. We
looked at the health impact when all five healthy lifestyle factors were
considered in combination.
Researchers examined these five factors of a
heart-healthy lifestyle:
● not smoking
● maintaining a body mass index (BMI) of less than 25 kg/m2
● exercising daily for at least 30 minutes
● drinking alcohol in moderation, defined as half a drink to two
drinks a day, on average (nondrinkers were not included)
● eating healthfully
A healthy diet emphasizes high intakes of fruits
and vegetables, cereal fiber, meat (chicken and fish), nuts, legumes,
low trans and saturated fats, and taking a multivitamin for at least
five years.
Chiuve and colleagues studied 42,847 men, ages 40
to 75, who were free from chronic diseases such as heart disease,
diabetes and cancer at the start of the study. The participants
provided information on their medical condition and lifestyle factors
every two years, starting in 1986, through self-administered
questionnaires. Twenty-one percent of the men took medications for high
blood pressure or high cholesterol.
One of the strengths of this study is that every
two years we collected detailed updated information on lifestyle factors
such as BMI or smoking status and also medical confirmation of newly
diagnosed heart disease, Chiuve said.
They found that 2,183 of the men had a heart attack
or developed fatal coronary heart disease) during the study. Men who
had all five healthy factors had a 87 percent lower risk for coronary
heart disease, compared to men who had none of the healthy lifestyle
factors. Researchers found that 62 percent of coronary events may have
been prevented if all men in the study population adhered to all five
healthy lifestyle factors.
What hadnt been studied before was the parallel
benefit of healthy lifestyle factors among men already with higher risk
health conditions. Among men taking medications for high blood
pressure or high cholesterol, 57 percent of all coronary events may have
been prevented with a healthy lifestyle, she said. Those who adopted
two or more healthy characteristics had a 27 percent lower risk of
coronary heart disease compared with those who did not.
We found that a healthy lifestyle, defined by
these five factors, is associated with lower risk of coronary heart
disease, even when men are taking medication to lower their blood
pressure or cholesterol, Chiuve said. And while we want to
encourage a healthy lifestyle throughout peoples lives, this study
shows that its never too late to make changes to become healthier.
You can still achieve significant benefit by making changes in middle
age or later in life.
Co-authors are Marjorie L. McCullough, R.D., Sc.D.;
Frank M. Sacks, M.D.; and Eric B. Rimm, Sc.D.
This study was funded by a grant from the National
Institutes of Health and an Established Investigator Award from the
American Heart Association.
Editors note: For more information on prevention,
risk factors and heart disease, visit the American Heart Association Web
site:
americanheart.org.
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