Frequently Asked Questions - Heart Disease

There are some risk factors that you can't do anything about. These include:

• Being male
• Being a woman who is past menopause
• Being older
• Having a family history of heart attack or coronary artery disease

Other risk factors can be controlled. These include:

• Smoking
• High cholesterol
• High blood pressure
• Lack of exercise
• Obesity
• Diabetes
• Unhealthy diet
• Stress

By improving your habits, you can cut your risk of heart attack or angina.

You can do several things to cut your chances of heart disease. If your arteries are already clogged, you can slow the damage with a healthier diet, exercise, quitting smoking, and reducing stress. With lifestyle changes, you can stop or even reverse the narrowing of arteries. While this is important for those with risk factors for the disease, it is even more important if you have had a heart attack or procedure to restore blood flow to your heart or other areas of your body.

Eating right is a powerful way to reduce or even eliminate some heart disease risk factors. A heart-healthy diet can help cut total and LDL ("bad") cholesterol, lower blood pressure, lower blood sugar, and help you shed pounds.

Try these tips:

• Eat more vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and legumes.
• Cut trans fats from your diet. Swap saturated fats for unsaturated ones.
• Eat lean sources of protein, such as chicken, fish, and soy. Avoid red meat, as this tends to be high in fat and cholesterol.
• Eat complex carbohydrates such as whole-grain bread, rice, and pasta and limit simple carbohydrates such as regular soda, sugar, and sweets.
• Cut down on salt.
• Exercise regularly.

Heart disease is the leading cause of death in women over 40 years old, especially after menopause. Once a woman reaches the age of 50 (about the age of natural menopause), the risk for heart disease increases dramatically. In young women who have undergone early or surgical menopause, the risk for heart disease is also higher, especially when combined with other risk factors such as:

• Diabetes
• Smoking
• High blood pressure
• High blood cholesterol, especially high LDL or "bad"cholesterol
• Obesity
• Lack of exercise
• Family history of heart disease
• Problems during pregnancy, such as preeclampsia, high blood pressure, gestational diabetes, or elevated sugars
• Rheumatologic and inflammatory diseases