by Kelley Herring
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of premature death among people with diabetes - at least 65 percent of people with diabetes die from heart disease or stroke.
Adults with diabetes are two to four times more likely to have heart disease or suffer a stroke than people without diabetes. Middle-aged people with type 2 diabetes have the same high risk for heart attack as people without diabetes who already have had a heart attack.
The good news is that relatively small improvements in blood sugar, lipids, and blood pressure can greatly reduce the risk for diabetes complications.
Let’s look at how diabetes and heart disease are linked:
- Ninety-seven percent of adults with type 2 diabetes have one or more lipid abnormalities and about 70 percent of people with diabetes also have high blood pressure.
- Sticky blood platelets contribute to clotting problems and poor blood flow in people with diabetes.
- Smoking doubles the risk for CVD in people with diabetes.
- Deaths from heart disease in women with diabetes have increased 23 percent over the past 30 years compared to a 27 percent decrease in women without diabetes.
- Deaths from heart disease in men with diabetes have decreased by only 13 percent compared to a 36 percent decrease in men without diabetes.
- Heart attacks occur at an earlier age in people with diabetes.
- People with diabetes are more likely to die from a heart attack and are more likely than those without diabetes to have a second event.
Cut Your Risk of a Deadly Heart Attack by 59%
With Just 7 Ounces of These Foods Each Week!
A Chinese study followed 18,000 men for 10 years and found that those eating just 7 ounces per week of a certain food had a risk of fatal heart attack 59% lower than men eating 2 ounces or less each week.
See p. 19 of Fats That Heal, Fats That Harm to learn more and then find hundreds of recipes with this heart-healthy ingredient on our website.
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