Heart Attack and Stroke

Abstract

After seeing the title of this book and the chapters it included, an editor told me that it would never work; she said the topics were too disparate. My dictionary defines disparate as “completely distinct or different in kind; entirely dissimilar.” The error in her thinking is nicely illustrated by the major risk factors for atherosclerosis. High blood pressure, diabetes, elevated serum cholesterol, obesity, and smoking are certainly a disparate lot with quite distinct origins and overall consequences, yet each contributes to a single disease, atherosclerosis, and each may be significantly influenced by diet and by exercise. Furthermore, a combination of exercise and diet, disparate as they may appear to be, is more effective than either alone. In this chapter we will consider the simple things that all of us can do to reduce our personal risks for suffering heart attack and stroke, using the nine factors outlined in the previous chapter.