Anti-Aging Lifestyle Reduces Cardiovascular & Cancer Risks

The anti-aging lifestyle includes behaviors such as not smoking, achieving a healthy blood sugar and blood pressure, engaging in regular physical activity, maintaining healthy total cholesterol and body mass index (BMI), and eating a healthy diet. These seven tenets are also reflected by the American Heart Association (AHA) as ideal cardiovascular health metrics.  Laura J. Rasmussen-Torvik, from Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine (Illinois, USA), and colleagues assessed data collected on 13,253 participants, mean age 54 years at baseline, from the Atherosclerosis Risk In Communities (ARIC) study which included nearly 20 years of follow-up. Subjects reported having no history of cancer at baseline (nonmelanoma skin cancer was excluded).   Researchers found that those who maintained goals for six or seven of the cardiovascular health metrics had a 51% lower risk of incident cancer, as compared with those meeting no goals.