Updated Guidelines for Women’s Heart Risk

The American Heart Association recently updated its “Guidelines for Preventing Cardiovascular Disease in Women.” Published in the February 20th edition of the journal Circulation, 2007 updates include the following:

• 60-90 minutes of moderate-intensity activity (i.e. brisk walking) on most, and preferably all, days of the week to lose or sustain weight loss.

• Lifestyle changes to help manage blood pressure include increased physical activity, alcohol moderation, sodium restriction, and an emphasis on eating fruits, veggies, and low-fat dairy products.
  


• Reduce saturated fat intake to less than 7% of total calories.
  


• Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is not recommended to prevent heart disease in women.
  


• Folic acid is no longer recommended to prevent cardiovascular disease as it was in 2004.
  


• The upper dosage of aspirin has increased from 162 mg/day to 325 mg/day.
  


• In addition to advising women to quit smoking, the 2007 guidelines recommend counseling, nicotine replacement, or other forms of cessation therapy.
  
  For more information, check out the American Heart Association’s web site (http://www.americanheart.org/).