Healthy Hearts vs. Unhealthy Abuse

We've all heard it many times. Healthy hearts start with healthy habits.

Although we don't always follow the good advice we hear on an almost daily basis, most of us are very familiar with what we and our families should be doing: don't smoke; eat a healthy diet based on vegetables, fruits and grains; exercise daily; and don't drink excessive amounts of alcohol.

The study, published in the journal Child Abuse and Neglect, analyzed data from 13,000 respondents in the 2005 Canadian Community Health Survey. Of those respondents, 7.4 percent indicated that they had been physically abused as a child and 4.4 percent reported they had been diagnosed with heart disease.

After accounting for most of the known risk factors for heart disease, the study found that adults who experienced physical abuse as children had a 45 percent higher chance of developing heart disease than their peers.

Read more: http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/08/30/650772/healthy-hearts-vs-unhealthy-abuse.html#ixzz0y6lJTwSX