Five healthy habits lower men's heart disease risk

By Charnicia Huggins

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Adopting a healthy lifestyle by maintaining a healthy diet and weight, exercising regularly, not smoking, drinking in moderation, can help prevent heart attack and heart-related death among men, according to the results of a 16-year study.

This is true not only for healthy men, researchers say, but also for those being treated for high blood pressure or high cholesterol, conditions known to increase a person's risk of heart disease.

"While we know that individually these five lifestyle factors may lower risk of coronary heart disease, this study shows that when taken in combination, these lifestyle factors may provide even greater benefit," study co-author Dr. Stephanie Chiuve, of Harvard University's School of Public Health in Boston, Massachusetts, told Reuters Health.

"A healthy lifestyle can be an effective, nonpharmacological approach to reducing coronary heart disease among men," she and her co-authors write in a report in the journal Circulation this week.

Studies conducted in women have shown that healthy lifestyles lower the risk of heart-related problems and death from heart disease. Yet, few studies have been conducted in middle-aged and older men.

Chiuve and her colleagues analyzed data from 42,847 men in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study, who were 40 to 75 years old and disease free when the study began, in 1986.

By 2002 -- 16 years into the study -- there were a total of 2,183 cases of heart attack or death from heart disease among the study participants.

Over half (62 percent) of these events, Chiuve and her co-authors note, might have been prevented if the men had adopted or adhered to a low-risk lifestyle that included the five healthy habits.

While adhering to even one healthy habit was associated with a lower risk of heart attack or death from heart disease, men who followed all five healthy lifestyle factors were the least likely to experience a heart-related event.

The lower risk of heart attack and heart-related death was also evident among men taking medication to lower their blood pressure or cholesterol. In fact, nearly 60 percent of all heart-related events that occurred among this group could have been prevented had the men adopted the five healthy habits while continuing their medication, the researchers calculate.

"This suggests that medications are not a substitute for healthy habits and should be used in addition to following a healthy lifestyle," Chiuve told Reuters Health.

She and her colleagues also point out that there were 1,583 cases of heart attack or heart disease death among men who reported a change in their lifestyle practices during the course of the study.

Yet, men who adopted at least two new healthy lifestyle practices were 37 percent less likely to experience a heart-related event than those who did not report any lifestyle changes.

On the other hand, those who reported engaging in at least two fewer healthy lifestyle practices than they reported at the start of the study were 48 percent more likely to experience heart attack or to die from heart disease.

"While we want to encourage healthy lifestyle habits throughout a person's lifetime, this study shows that men can achieve benefit by making favorable changes during middle and older ages," Chiuve noted. "In other words, it is never too late to change."

SOURCE: Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association, July 3, 2006.