About every 25 seconds, an American will have a coronary event

The most common heart disease in the United States is coronary heart disease, which often appears as a heart attack or a stroke. In 2010, an estimated 785,000 Americans had a new coronary attack, and about 470,000 had a recurrent attack. Every 25 seconds, an American will have a coronary event, and about one every minute will die from one.

And it’s a shame because in many cases the lost lives are tied directly to lifestyle–particularly diet. The chance of developing coronary heart disease can be greatly reduced by taking steps to prevent and control factors that put people at greater risk.

The link between nutrition and heart health

As part of Heart Health Month, the American Heart Association wants everyone to take a good look at the things in our lives that we can control. Such as re-evaluating our diet and getting regular blood tests to determine our cholesterol numbers.

With one quick look it’s easy to see that we humans were never meant to eat the types of foods we consume every day. There is a direct link between nutrition and heart disease. Poor eating habits could very soon lead to the fist generation of Americans to live shorter lives than the generation before them.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. [Read more…]