How you live your life does matter for your health. At least, that’s the conclusion from the Nurses’ Health Study. More than 80,000 women between the ages of 27 and 44 were studied for 14 years. Those who had the highest scores on healthy lifestyle factors had the lowest risk of high blood pressure. The key factors were maintaining a healthy body weight, exercising vigorously half an hour daily, eating lots of fruits and vegetables, drinking just a little alcohol, using over-the-counter pain killers sparingly and taking folic acid supplements. The investigators conclude that “adopting low-risk dietary and lifestyle factors has the potential to prevent a large proportion of new-onset hypertension occurring among young women.”
[Journal of American Medical Association, July 22/29, 2009]
http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/short/302/4/401?home
