On Wednesday, the American Heart Association (AHA) published their results of a several year review looking at health factors strongly associated with cardiovascular health and launched an online tool aimed at encouraging people to evaluate and work towards bettering factors that affect heart health.

Published in the journal, Circulation, the AHA identified seven areas that are strongly associated with heart health and identified "simple" steps that could be taken to improve status in the seven areas. The seven areas of focus include smoking history, weight/body mass, physical activity, blood pressure, fasting blood glucose, total cholesterol, and eating a health diet.

Specific recommendations include quitting smoking, maintaining a BMI less than 25.0 (less than 156 pounds for a 5 foot six inch person), exercising moderately at least 150 minutes per week or 75 minutes vigorously, maintaining a blood pressure below 120/80, a fasting glucose level less than 100 milligrams/deciliter, and a total cholesterol less than 200 milligrams/deciliter. With respect to diet, the AHA recommended that people eat at least 4.5 cups of fruits and vegetables per day, at least two 3.5 oz. servings of fish per week (preferably oily), and eat at least three 1-ounce servings of fiber-rich whole grains per day. The AHA also recommended that individuals limit sodium intake to less than 1,500 milligrams a day and drink no more than 36 ounces weekly of sugar-sweetened beverages.

The AHA maintains that population-wide improvement of these seven factors could improve the cardiovascular health of Americans by 20% by the year 2020, and also reduce related deaths and strokes by 20%. To facilitate these changes, the AHA has launched an online tool to help consumers evaluate their heart health and learn how to make changes across the seven target areas.

 

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