Everyday changes that could save your life

No matter your age, location or gender, the findings of a landmark medical study hold an important message: a great deal of cardiovascular disease is preventable because most of its causes are linked to the way we live. Here's what you should know.

• Known as the Interheart study, this worldwide examination of risk factors for heart disease provides compelling evidence that the daily lifestyle choices made by individuals can improve the health of their arteries and reduce their risk of heart attacks and strokes. More than 15,000 men and women from 52 countries took part in the study.
• All had one thing in common: they had experienced their first heart attacks. Participants were questioned about the details of their lifestyles, medical and family histories and personal circumstances.
• They were given a physical examination, blood samples were taken, and they had their waist and hip circumferences measured.
• The results were then compared with those from healthy people living in the same communities.
• The scientists came up with a startling finding: just nine factors accounted for 90 per cent of all first-time heart attacks.
• The study made it clear that, while rates of cardiovascular disease vary from country to country, in almost every geographic region, men and women of all ages and ethnic backgrounds are vulnerable for the same nine reasons.
• On the basis of such research, the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada and the American Heart Association insist that death from coronary artery disease — which claims nearly one in three lives in North America — is largely preventable. The message from Interheart is clear: Change your lifestyle and live longer.

Each one of the nine risk factors identified by the Interheart study suggest that cardiovascular disease is far from inevitable. Each one is linked to unhealthy lifestyle choices, which can — with a few everyday changes — be modified to reduce your risk of both heart attacks and strokes. They are:

1. Abnormal blood fats

2. Smoking

3. High blood pressure

4. Diabetes

5. Stress

6. Obesity, especially abdominal fat

7. Eating too few fruits and vegetables

8. A lack of daily exercise

9. Excess alcohol intake