Fit & Proper: Stay fit beyond 50

Regular exercise is a useful adjunct in bringing down blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol level

Interheart, a very significant global study answers why Indians are more prone to cardiovascular events such as heart attack and brain stroke compared to their western counterparts.

The study identifies nine modifiable risk factors that explain the occurrence of heart attacks in 90 per cent cases. These are divided into two parts: adverse risk factors and protective risk factors

While the adverse risk factors are smoking, bad cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes, abdominal obesity, mellitus and psycho-social stress, the protective risk factors are regular intake of fruits and vegetables, regular exercise and moderate alcohol consumption.

Globally, all nine risk factors