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According to the American Heart Association, heart disease is the nation's single leading cause of death for both men and women. At least 58.8 million people in this country suffer from some form of heart disease. Men have a greater risk of heart attack than women do, and they have attacks earlier in life. Even after menopause, when women's death rate from heart disease increases, it's not as great as men's. But the good news is that measures can be taken to prevent heart disease. Studies show that nearly everyone can become more heart healthy by following a few key steps, such as eating a healthy diet, exercising, quitting smoking, and maintaining a healthy body weight.

The American Heart Association has identified several risk factors. Some of them can be modified, treated or controlled, and some can't. The more risk factors you have, the greater your chance of developing coronary heart disease. Also, the greater the level of each risk factor, the greater the risk. For example, a person with a total cholesterol of 300 mg/dL has a greater risk than someone with a total cholesterol of 245 mg/dL, even though everyone with a total cholesterol greater than 240 is considered high-risk.

Food has a powerful influence on health. What you eat, interacting with other risk factors, substantially determines the development of coronary heart disease. The principal components of food are fat, carbohydrate, protein, fiber, vitamins and minerals. The goals of a heart-healthy diet are to eat foods that help obtain or maintain healthy levels of cholesterol and lipids (fatty molecules) by achieving the following:

ท Reducing overall cholesterol levels and low-density lipoproteins (LDL), which are harmful to the heart.

ท Increasing high-density lipoproteins (HDL), which are beneficial for the heart.

ท Reducing other harmful lipids (fatty molecules), such as tri-glycerides and lipoprotein(a).