Six Healthy Habits Can Help Women Avert 73% of Coronary Heart Disease

Adoption of six healthy lifestyle behaviors could avert about 73% of coronary heart disease (CHD) cases among women over 20 years, as well as 46% of diabetes, hypertension, and hyperlipidemia, conclude researchers, based on their analysis of about 69 000 participants followed for 20 years in the Nurses’ Health Study II (NHS II).

The optimal healthy-lifestyle behaviors included not smoking, maintaining a lower body-mass index (BMI), engaging in at least 2.5 hours of physical activity a week, watching no more than 7 hours per week of television, and eating a healthy diet. Also included was consumption of up to one alcoholic drink a day; the association between alcohol intake and risks of both CHD and CV risk factors followed a J-shaped curve.

The findings, based on women who entered the NHS II when in their 20s through 40s, were published in the January 6/13, 2015 issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. They reinforce how important it is for young women (and men) to adopt and maintain a healthy lifestyle, lead author Dr Andrea K Chomistek (Indiana University, Bloomington) told heartwire