Functional Fitness: Healthy lifestyle habits to prevent heart disease ...

SINGAPORE: The right balance of healthy lifestyle habits can help prevent heart disease, according to researchers from the NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health and the University of Minnesota.

They had, for the first time, combined all factors that could have an impact on heart health.?

These factors include a diet of vegetables, fruit and soy; about two hours or more of physical activity a week; moderate alcohol consumption; sleeping six to eight hours a day; maintaining a healthy weight and no history of smoking.

Over 50,400 Singaporean Chinese men and women, aged 45 to 74 years, participated in the study on their lifestyle habits between April 1993 and December 1998, and followed up in 2009.

Within the group, 44,056 had no history of diabetes, heart disease and stroke, while 6,410 were diagnosed with diabetes, heart disease and stroke.?

Research showed that most of the protective lifestyle factors contributed to about a 20 per cent reduction in deaths due to heart disease. But not ever picking up a cigarette reduced this risk by 32 per cent.?

Separately, a second study -- also conducted by Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health and the University of Minnesota -- found that frequent consumption of Western-style fast food in an Asian population was linked to an increased risk of heart disease and diabetes.

Associate Professor Koh Woon-Puay, from the National University of Singapore's Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, said: "A lot of people think, 'yes of course, if I have a healthier lifestyle, I'll be healthy'.?

"But what is a healthy lifestyle? How much exercise is needed? Is it something that's very hard to achieve in terms of diet control and exactly how much good is there that a person gains from it?

"Singapore is becoming more westernised. People are seeing a very rapid change in lifestyle factors as a result of our economic development. And it's good to be able to now measure these lifestyle factors and actually see the effect these factors have on cardiovascular health of a population."

Going forward, the study plans to look at how changes in lifestyle factors in an ageing population affect the risk of cardiovascular disease. The same cohort will be re-interviewed to see if changing certain habits will have an impact as they age.

- CNA/al
By Sara Grosse

Source: http://nick-fit.blogspot.com/2012/07/healthy-lifestyle-habits-to-prevent.html

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