Prevention of Heart attack

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A strategy for the prevention of coronary artery disease, based on agreement between experts from 19 countries, was published in the medical journal 'The Lancet'. The main points were about eradicating smoking, reducing cholesterol intake, with emphasis on unsaturated fat and high fibre content, and promoting exercise.

The aim was to reduce obesity, lower blood cholesterol levels and reduce blood pressure. There was particular emphasis on encouraging social pressures against smoking.

The general conclusion was that to reduce the risk of MI, you should:

Give up smoking

Find out how much you'll save by kicking the habit
Take regular aerobic exercise (for example, a brisk, 20 minute walk, three times per week). This reduces blood pressure, weight and blood cholesterol level, and increases the fitness of the heart muscle.

Find out how many calories you can burn doing the activities you enjoy
Reduce the animal fat content of your diet. A Mediterranean diet using unrefined olive oil and coloured vegetables such as tomatoes and peppers is now thought to be associated with a reduced risk of heart disease.

Take the 5-a-day fruit and veg test

Many men take a small dose of aspirin every day as a routine. Current recommendations are that low-dose aspirin (80 to 100 mg daily - less than half a normal tablet) is to be recommended to help prevent heart attacks in people with one or two of the risk factors for heart attacks (see Causes), but whose blood pressure is within normal limits. However, taking aspirin is not a substitute for exercise, stopping smoking and avoiding animal fats.

The reason why only people with normal blood pressure should use the aspirin treatment is because, by interfering with the natural tendency of blood to clot, which gives it some protective effect against heart attack, at the same time aspirin increases the risk of haemorrhagic Stroke (cerebral haemorrhage). This increased risk is only significant in people who are already at risk of stroke because of their high blood pressure.