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Health & Fitness

Women: Follow your Heart

Updated recommendations for women on what to do to prevent cardiovascular disease

February is national heart month— a time to remember to pay attention to our hearts. Of great coincidence, the 2011 update on the Guidelines for the Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease in Women was just published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

For those unfamiliar with the guidelines, I thought it appropriate, especially considering this month’s theme, to summarize for my readers the recommendations.

These recommendations all have a basis in scientific evidence collected from clinical trials.

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The guidelines for the prevention of cardiovascular disease in women include:

  • Smoking cessation
  • Physical activity : either 150 minutes per week of moderate exercise or 75 minutes per week of vigorous exercise
  • Dietary intakes rich in fruits and vegetable, whole-grain, high fiber,  twice weekly consumption of fish, especially oily fish, limited intakes of saturated fat, cholesterol, alcohol, sodium and sugar and avoidance of trans-fatty foods, the DASH diet.
  • Maintenance of a BMI <25
  • Consumption of omega-3 fatty acids for those women with elevated cholesterol and/or triglycerides
  • Maintenance of a blood pressure < 120/80

Of special interest are those interventions which are NOT RECOMMENDED because of lack of scientific data to show effectiveness:

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  • Menopausal hormone therapy solely to prevent CVD
  • Antioxidants (vitamin E, C, and carotene) should not be used for prevention of CVD
  • Folic acid with or without B6 nd B12 supplementation, should not be used for prevention of CVD
  • Routine aspirin use in healthy women < 65 years of age to prevent heart attacks

So, are you interested in heart health? This is the recipe to reduce your heart risks. Keep in mind that cardiovascular disease causes about one death per minute among women in the U.S. That’s more than the total number of lives claimed by cancer, chronic lower respiratory disease, Alzheimers and accidents combined. 

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