Atherosclerosis

Alternative Names

Prevention

The following lifestyle changes can help prevent atherosclerosis:

• Eat a low-fat, low-cholesterol, and low-salt diet.
• Eat fish. Adding fish to the diet at least twice a week has been shown to be helpful. Do not fry the fish, as this destroys the benefit.
• If you don't like to eat fish, try a fish oil supplement.
• Exercise 30 minutes every day. If you are overweight, you should get 60 to 90 minutes of exercise a day.
• Lose weight if you are overweight.
• Stop smoking.
• Mild to moderate consumption of alcohol or wine (1-2 drinks per day) may also reduce the risk of cardiovascular events. Too much alcohol, however, does more harm than good.
• If you have one or more risk factors for heart attack or stroke, ask your doctor if you should take aspirin every day. Aspirin can help some people reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke.

Work with your doctor to bring the blood pressure into the normal range. This may require medication. Follow your doctor's recommendations for treatment and control of diabetes and other diseases.

Do not take hormonal replacement therapy, folic acid supplements, vitamin C or E, or antioxidants to decrease the risk of heart disease or stroke. These methods have not been proven to prevent these conditions.

References

Boden WE, O'rourke RA, Teo KK, et al. Optimal Medical Therapy with or without PCI for Stable Coronary Disease. N Engl J Med. 2007 Mar 26; [Epub ahead of print].

Mosca L, Banka CL, Benjamin EJ, et al. Evidence-Based Guidelines for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention in Women: 2007 Update. Circulation. 2007; Published online before print February 19, 2007.

Zipes DP, Libby P, Bonow RO, Braunwald E, eds. Braunwald's Heart Disease: A Textbook of Cardiovascular Medicine, 7th ed. St. Louis, Mo: WB Saunders; 2005:921-935.