Sticking with a healthy diet and lifestyle can reduce the risks of high blood pressure and heart failure, in which the heart cannot pump enough blood to supply the body with oxygen and nutrients, according to the findings of two studies in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
In the first investigation, Dr. Luc Djousse, from Harvard Medical School in Boston, and colleagues analyzed data from 20,900 men in the Physicians' Health Study I (1982-2008) to assess the link between lifestyle factors and the lifetime risk of heart failure. The subjects were followed for 22.4 years, on average.
The lifetime risk of heart failure, assessed at age 40 years, was about one in seven, the report indicates.
A variety of healthy lifestyle habits were linked to a lower risk of heart failure. These habits included maintaining a normal body weight , not smoking , regular exercise, moderate alcohol intake, consumption of breakfast cereals, and consumption of fruits and vegetables.
Men who adhered to none of the healthy lifestyle factors had the highest lifetime risk of heart failure-21.2 percent--while those who adhered to four or more had the lowest risk-10.1 percent.
The second investigation, conducted by Dr. John P. Forman and colleagues, from Harvard Medical School, Boston, involved an analysis of data from 83,882 women in the Nurses' Health Study (1991-2005). The goal was to assess the impact that various diet and lifestyle factors had, in combination, on the risk of high blood pressure.
The study focused on six factors, previously tied to a reduced risk of high blood pressure: normal body weight, vigorous exercise for an average of 30 minutes per day, consuming a healthy diet, modest alcohol intake, use of pain medications less than once per week, and use of supplemental folic acid, a form of vitamin B .
The presence of 6, 5, 4, and 3 of the factors cut the risk of high blood pressure by 78, 72, 58, and 54 percent, respectively, relative to the complete absence of these factors.
The factor with the single greatest impact on high blood pressure was body weight. Women who were obese were 4.7-times more likely to develop high blood pressure than were women of normal body weight.
The authors conclude that many new cases of high blood pressure could be prevented through adherence to the low-risk dietary and lifestyle factors described. This, they add, could yield major public health benefits.
SOURCE: Journal of the American Medical Association, July 22/29, 2009.
Saturday
World's heaviest man gets wheels.
The world's heaviest man still can't walk, but he will soon be able to roll.
Manuel Uribe said Thursday he is having a 1989 Chevrolet Astrovan outfitted to support his record-breaking weight, giving him mobility after more than six years of being confined to his bed.
Uribe earned the Guinness World Record as the world's heaviest man in 2006, when he tipped the scales at 560kg. He claims to have since shed more than 200kg after making a public call for help.
Uribe, known as Meme to his friends, even has a name for his new ride. "My friends call it the Meme-Mobile, just like the Batmobile," he said.
The minivan is being converted into an open-air, flatbed pickup of sorts. Manuel says he will put a bed on the back of the van to drive around town, with his new wife at the wheel. When at home, he will hang out in a remodeled garage that will include a forklift to help raise his regular bed up to the level of his car bed, allowing him to switch locations from time to time.
Uribe said that, with the new car, he plans to start up an auto parts business. And Uribe's wife, Claudia Solis, said the two are even thinking about making a trip to the beach in May.
Uribe married Solis in October, and the wedding was one of the few times he has left his home in recent years
Robin Williams needs heart op.
US comedian and Oscar winner Robin Williams is to undergo surgery to replace a heart valve, his representatives told the US celebrity magazine People.
Williams, 57, was admitted to a southern Florida hospital this week with shortness of breath and broke off a tour of his one-man comedy show Weapons of Self-Destruction. Doctors ordered him to take a rest, but Williams' spokesmen told People Thursday that his 80-city tour, which began in September and was to go to New York's Broadway in the spring, would resume in the autumn.
"This tour has been amazing fun, and I can't wait to get back out on the road after a little tune-up," the performer who won the best supporting actor Oscar in 1997 for Good Will Hunting said in a statement.
The date of Williams' surgery to replace his aortic valve was not announced. Heart valves are replaced when they fail to open or close properly. The aortic valve regulates the flow of blood from the heart's left ventricle into the aorta, which distributes blood to the rest of the body.
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