Impact of diet and exercise on lipid management in the modern era

Abstract

Unfortunately, many patients as well as the medical community, continue to rely on coronary revascularization procedures and cardioprotective medications as a first-line strategy to stabilize or favorably modify established risk factors and the course of coronary artery disease. However, these therapies do not address the root of the problem, that is, the most proximal risk factors for heart disease, including unhealthy dietary practices, physical inactivity, and cigarette smoking. We argue that more emphasis must be placed on novel approaches to embrace current primary and secondary prevention guidelines, which requires attacking conventional risk factors and their underlying environmental causes. The impact of lifestyle on the risk of cardiovascular disease has been well established in clinical trials, but these results are often overlooked and underemphasized. Considerable data also strongly support the role of lifestyle intervention to improve glucose and insulin homeostasis, as well as physical inactivity and/or low aerobic fitness. Accordingly, intensive diet and exercise interventions can be highly effective in facilitating coronary risk reduction, complementing and enhancing medications, and in some instances, even outperforming drug therapy.

Keywords: cardioprotective medications; cholesterol; coronary revascularization; diet; lipoproteins; physical activity; primary prevention; risk factor; secondary prevention; triglyceride.