The Medical Freedom Channel

“Question: I just heard about a study that found that most heart attacks are due to such factors as smoking, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and other risks we’ve heard about for years. What’s new about this? Answer: Results of the study you’re referring to were revealed at a 2004 meeting of the European Society of Cardiology and are important because they challenged medical thinking about the risk factors for heart attacks. Until this study was reported, we believed that the risk factors you mention - smoking, high cholesterol, high blood pressure and others including diabetes, stress, abdominal obesity, a sedentary lifestyle, eating too few fruits and vegetables - accounted for about half of all heart attacks and that the other half remained to be explained. Results from this study concluded that the risk factors contributing directly to about 90 percent of heart attacks and that therefore the vast majority of heart attacks can be prevented. (02/28/06)