Change Bad Habits Early, Save Your Heart Later
Young adults who adopt healthier lifestyle can cut their heart disease risk, researchers say
By Kathleen Doheny
THURSDAY, July 3, 2014 (HealthDay News) -- Young adults who drop their bad health habits can reduce their risk of heart disease as they age, new research suggests.
"Even after people have hit adulthood with some unhealthy behaviors, it's not too late to produce a benefit for their heart if they change those behaviors," said study author Bonnie Spring, a health psychologist and professor of preventive medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
"Conversely, if they don't keep up their healthy lifestyle behaviors, and lose some, we will see adverse effects on their coronary arteries, which increases the risk of heart disease," Spring said.
While many studies have shown that unhealthy behaviors are linked with heart problems, fewer studies have looked at whether turning around the bad habits might have a good effect, she noted.
The general thinking is that people won't change, Spring added. She found that's not always true -- and that the change made a difference.
"What's important here is, if you have reached adulthood and you have an unhealthy lifestyle, you are not doomed to have heart disease," Spring said. "If you make healthy changes, you can reduce your risk."
Spring's team tracked the health behaviors of more than 3,500 men and women enrolled in the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study. The researchers evaluated the participants when they were aged 18 to 30 and then again 20 years later, looking for changes that predict heart disease, such as calcification in the blood vessels.
The investigators looked at five healthy habits: not being overweight; being a nonsmoker; being physical active; having a low intake of alcohol; and having a healthy diet (defined as being low in fat and high in calcium, fiber and potassium).
At the study's start, less than 10 percent of the young men and women reported all five healthy habits. Over time, 25 percent of the men and women made healthy lifestyle changes. About 35 percent stayed the same in terms of health habits, and 40 percent had fewer healthy habits over time.