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by Barbara Levine, R.D., Ph.D. A nutritional approach to prevent heart disease can be applied to people who fall into all categories—low risk, intermediate risk and high risk. All groups are encouraged to adopt and adhere to healthy dietary and lifestyle habits. People in the intermediate and high-risk groups for developing heart disease are encouraged to undergo certain procedures to determine prognosis, and measure, as accurately as possible, the degree of risk. After risk assessment has been instituted, recommendations, as set forth at the Prevention V Conference, should be followed, including: (1) lowering the "bad" (LDL) cholesterol, (2) controlling blood pressure, (3) eliminating smoking, (4) maintaining a healthy diet and (5) adopting an exercise regime. What this basically boils down to, for those people who fall into the low-risk category, is that dietary and lifestyle changes can help prevent the onset of heart disease. For those in the intermediate and high-risk groups, management of heart disease can be achieved also through dietary and lifestyle changes, in combination with specific medical and drug therapies. Heart Disease Begins Early—Stop It Before It Stops You It is crucial to start heart-healthy eating patterns and lifestyle habits as early in life as possible. A new study presented at the American Heart Association´s 72nd Scientific Sessions found that the insidious process of heart disease begins developing in childhood. A study of transplant hearts from teenage donors showed that one in six had significant blockage in at least one coronary artery. This alarming finding supports the American Heart Association´s recommendation that heart disease prevention should start early on in childhood. Heart disease does not discriminate by striking only older people.
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