Rediscovering the Kitchen, and Other Tips for Heart Health

First the bad news: After decades of major progress in reducing deaths from diseases of the heart and blood vessels, the decline in cardiovascular mortality has slowed significantly, according to the latest report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The researchers called their findings alarming, suggesting that cardiovascular benefits from medical interventions may have reached a saturation point and that further improvements depend largely on changes in society and personal behavior.

The new data, published in June in JAMA Cardiology, covered the years from 2000 through 2014. From 2000 through 2010, the annual rates of decline for all cardiovascular deaths heart diseases and stroke averaged 3.69 percent for men and 3.98 percent for women. But since 2011, the rates of decline dropped to a mere 0.23 percent for men and 1.17 percent for women.

These findings point to near stagnation in controlling cardiovascular diseases and deaths, Dr. Stephen Sidney and colleagues wrote. And, they noted, the reasons are not difficult to discern. Based on data from the latest National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey in 2011-12, Americans did better in controlling three major risk factors smoking, high blood pressure and elevated cholesterol, often with the help of medication but many more people became obese and developed Type 2 diabetes.

Read the full article here:  http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/08/01/rediscovering-the-kitchen-and-other-tips-for-heart-health/?_r=0