cover image If It Runs in the Family: Heart Disease

If It Runs in the Family: Heart Disease

Charles Klieman, Charles Kleiman. Bantam Books, $8.95 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-553-34954-2

According to this volume, more than 540,000 Americans die each year from heart attacks and half of them have no warning symptoms. In this exhaustive and compelling work, Klieman ( Save Your Artieries, Save Your Life ) and Osborn ( Lonely All the Time ) explain that most people--particularly those with a family history of heart disease--can greatly reduce their risks through simple lifestyle changes. After evaluating their genetic risk by constructing a family genogram, readers learn how to control environmental factors--smoking, hypertension, cholesterol, obesity, lack of exercise, stress and drug abuse. The authors give sound advice on how to kick the smoking habit, reduce blood pressure,stet/pk and lower cholesterol levels through exercise and diet (providing a valuable guide to dietary fats). They clarify recent controversies about ``good'' versus ``bad'' cholesterol, and they say that hostility may be a more important factor than stress. Readers also learn how to recognize the symptoms of heart disease and about highly effective treatments that are (or soon will be) available. A guide to resources and a glossary are included. This is one of the first books in the If It Runs in Your Family series. (Mar.)