Adherence
Adherence to ideal combined lifestyle behaviors (smoking, BMI, physical activity, diet) significantly reduces the risk of incident cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes, regardless of an individual's genetic risk score.
Focus on the four pillars: don't smoke, keep your weight in a healthy range, eat a diet rich in key components, and stay physically active. Doing this well significantly lowers your risk of heart disease and diabetes, even if you have a high genetic predisposition. Your lifestyle choices matter just as much for high-risk individuals as they do for low-risk ones.
In this large contemporary population, genetic composition and combined health behaviors and factors had a log-additive effect on the risk of developing cardiovascular disease. The relative effects of poor lifestyle were comparable between genetic risk groups.
Why this rating
Large prospective cohort (n=339,003), rigorous statistical adjustments, and high significance thresholds.
Source
Associations of Combined Genetic and Lifestyle Risks With Incident Cardiovascular Disease and Diabetes in the UK Biobank Study
M. Abdullah Said et al. · JAMA Cardiology · 2018
DOI 10.1001/jamacardio.2018.1717
Related findings · Adherence
- Regular physical activity (at least 150 minutes/week of moderate-intensity) reduces all-cause and cardiovascular mortality by 20-30% and lowers the risk of type 2 diabetes by 25-35%.Strong
- Increasing physical activity from a sedentary lifestyle to an active one in middle adulthood significantly reduces the risk of coronary events compared to remaining sedentary.Strong
- Resistance exercise is the only intervention capable of consistently restoring muscle function and strength in sarcopenia, partially overcoming age-related anabolic resistance.Strong
This is one finding among thousands. Every one is graded and traced to its source, so you can see what the evidence actually supports. Browse the research →