Heart disease and IQ: We can all reduce our heart health risk, says BHF

10 February 2010

In response to a study published in the European Society of Cardiology which highlights that IQ may play a role in the differences in cardiovascular disease rates between people in high and low socio-economic groups, Fotini Rozakeas, Cardiac Nurse for the British heart Foundation (BHF), said:

"This study shows that IQ may be a factor in determining vulnerability to heart and circulatory disease particularly in lower socioeconomic groups.

"However, heart disease is largely preventable and many of the risk factors the study considered, such as smoking, physical inactivity, and high blood pressure, are ones we can all do something about.

"By making lifestyle changes such as stopping smoking, doing regular physical activity and eating a healthy balanced diet we can significantly reduce our risk of heart disease.

"In order to make real progress on tackling health inequalities we need health promotion campaigns designed to reach everyone in the community and encourage people to make healthy choices in food.

"We also need to create an environment which helps people make healthier choices. A quick and simple way to achieve this would be to introduce a single food labelling scheme using traffic light colours, guideline daily amounts and the word high, medium and low, and give shoppers simple at a glance information about the food they’re buying."

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