Women and Heart Diseases Heart

Women and Heart Diseases

Heart diseases in women are after all not genetic in nature and thus can be avoided to a large extent with good diet. This is good news for millions who might have connected their heart problems to family's poor medical history. The findings are the result of a study conducted by researchers at Harvard School of Public Health.

The results may not exactly be astonishing for it has all been known that a diet consisting of mainly processed food cannot be considered healthy and hence may have serious negative effects. The only new discovery may be the impact of healthy diet on women's heart problems. According to researcher Christin Heidemann, a diet consisting of wholegrain, fruits and vegetables can reduce the risk of death due to heart problems by 17%. This was compared to western eating pattern that mostly consists of processed food, red meat and refined sweets and grains.

Interesting the study offers very little original findings. Even the "prudent diet" that is used to compare with its less prudent counterpart is based on American heart association's guide on healthy foods. Secondly the research could just as well be applied to men. The categorical distinction that women could reduce death from heart problems is simply redundant. The study shows that both men and women could improve their health and reduce heart trouble by following a more sensible diet consisting of fruits and vegetables etc.

However the study can be considered credible because of its extensive and comprehensive monitoring of the eating habits 72,000 women over a period of 20 years. During this time, women's eating habits were monitored with the help of surveys and data charts to see how some of the women who at the start of the study had no heart problems at all, also developed heart trouble.

It was this monitoring and following that allowed the researchers to establish a link between heart diseases and eating habits. It was found that certain types of food are more likely to lead to heart conditions while others may actually prevent development of the same. For the healthy heart, they thus recommended foods rich in fiber and wholegrain. This is consistent with the recommendations made by Heart association of America.

Heidemann is of the opinion that instead of simply adding certain nutrients to the diet, women need to change their entire diet pattern. This is their best safeguard against possible heart problems. The research particularly targets women and it is perplexing to understand but another researcher offer an explanation: "because there is still this notion that women don't die of heart disease. But the fact is, they do. And clearly, in terms of heart disease risk, diet makes a difference."

The findings of this study are anything but shocking or even new. They simply endorse what earlier studies have found. This confirmation however may be important because this is in connection with women health. Women are generally less careful about their heart trouble because they feel that more men than women suffer from it. This may actually seem true from anecdotal evidence but the fact remains that women with wrong eating habits are just as prone to heart related problems as men and hence they need to pay closer attention to the findings of this study.