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It's Never Too Late to Protect Your Heart
Heart disease, the nation’s
number one killer, takes
the lives of nearly 700,000
Americans each year. Of course, you
can’t change your family health  history,
gender, or ethnicity, which may boost
your risk for this condition.
According to David Zukoff, M.D., chief of the department of Cardiology at Riverview Medical Center, "Ongoing
research offers plenty of things individuals can do to lower their risk of developing heart disease." Take these latest findings
to heart:
1) A British Medical
Journal review study concluded
that women and men age 50 and
older could reduce their risk of developing
heart disease by 76 percent. The
recipe for success: eating 4 ounces of fish
four times a week and consuming the
following heart-healthy items every day:
2 ½ ounces of almonds
¹/10 ounce of fresh garlic
3 ½ ounces of dark chocolate
7 ounces of fruit and vegetables
5 ounces of wine
2) Keeping their old friends and making
new ones might help women’s hearts.
This is the message of a new study
published in the journal Psychosomatic
Medicine. Compared to socially isolated women, those with a large social circle
had more than half the risk of dying
from heart disease. This study observed
more than 500 women with an average
age of 59.
3) In a study of men ages 71 to 93,
those who walked 1½ miles a day cut
their risk for cardiovascular disease in
half compared to their peers
who walked less than a
quarter of a mile daily.
4) A study in the
New England Journal of Medicine
confirms that
postmenopausal
women also can
take strides against
heart disease by
walking. Those who
either walked briskly
or performed vigorous
exercise for at least 2½ hours
per week had about a 30 percent lower
risk for cardiovascular events — such
as heart attack or stroke — than inactive
women. Vigorous exercise included
activities such as swimming laps, jogging,
tennis, and aerobics. What’s more,
those who walked briskly and engaged
in vigorous exercise enjoyed a 37 percent
lower risk than did their sedentary counterparts.
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Cardiovascular disease is the
leading cause of death among
men and women. In fact, more
than a third of all Americans
who have a heart attack show
no symptoms.
What if there were a way
to look at your heart today
and see if you are at risk for
heart disease? Thanks to the
latest technology available at
Riverview Medical Center, a
simple 15-minute test can identify
heart problems and possibly
add years to your life. CT angiography
(CTA) is a noninvasive
test that provides clear, colorized,
three-dimensional images
of the heart. The detailed
images enable physicians to
diagnose and treat heart disease
at a much earlier stage.
“Knowledge is power, and
thanks to CTA, individuals can
take a proactive step toward
better health,” says Robert
Wold, M.D., chairman of the
department of Radiology at
Riverview Medical Center.
Learn more about the 64-slice
CTA and other diagnostic services
available at Riverview.
Call 732-530-2304.
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