Over the last 30 years the incidence of heart disease has been steadily declining. However, recent studies published this month (February 2008) in the “Archives of Internal Medicine” shows that the long-term trend is flattening and even going into reverse amongst people in their late 30s to early 50s.

The teams from the Mayo Clinic and the University of British Columbia studied autopsies of more than 425 people who died of unknown causes, murders, accidents and suicides. Over 80% of these bodies had evidence of coronary artery disease, and nearly 10% had signs of high-grade heart disease. The conclusion of the report was that the proportion of people with signs of high-grade heart disease was declining between 1981 and 1995, the trend of then plateaued and started the trend started to reverse from 2000 onwards.

Other studies show that in the US, UK and Australia that although death rates due to heart disease is still continuing to fall amongst the elderly, death rates are increasing amongst men and women in the 35 to 54 year age range. The cause of this alarming change in heart health, the researchers say, is the increasing rate of obesity and diabetes, in addition too, the culture of excessive drinking and cigarette smoking. In 2002, Professor Capewell is quoted as saying that “disease mortality in the UK increased amongst men aged 35 to 54 the first time in more than two decades. Despite improvements in care, the party is over and complacency runs a high risk”, he said. “The flattening trends in mortality rates among young suggests cardiovascular disease pandemic is not being controlled”.

As a practitioner of traditional Chinese Medicine I see the warning signs of this future heart disease epidemic everyday in my acupuncture clinic. Two of the biggest risk factors that I see in my clients is the inability, or the lack of desire to prepare and eat good wholesome, healthy food. The common excuse is “I just don’t have time”. There is often a look of disbelief and incomprehension as I explained healthy meal can be prepared in 10 minutes, just take a piece of fish, put it under the grill, add a handful of ready washed new potatoes to a pot of boiling water, open up a pack of salad, add the juice of half a lemon to a little olive oil to make a dressing and bingo, one very heart healthy meal ready in under 10 minutes. Take a bottle of water to work to work during the day instead of coffee or soft drinks, pick up a couple of pieces of fruit and a packet of nuts and seeds, add that to your bag before you go to work and you are ready to survive the day without the chocolate, cakes and pastries are usually there to tempt you.

The other lifestyle habit that needs to be redressed in many of my clients is their lack of exercise. One of the easiest and simplest way is sure you’re getting the exercise is to buy a pedometer. These can be bought in almost any sport shop, department store or on the web for just a few pounds or dollars. You clip it to your belt first thing in the morning and make sure you’ve clocked up a least a 10,000 steps by the time you go to bed at night. Just these few simple changes can make the difference between seeing your grandchildren grow up or not. Of course, if you are serious about making real changes to your health check out your local acupuncture practitioner for help and advice.

Tags: nutrition, Health, exercise