It's not all in the genes: Clean living can cut heart risks

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Clean living can slash your risk for heart disease even if your genes are heavily stacked against you.

A large study finds that people with the most inherited risk cut their chances of having a heart attack or other heart problems in half if they didn't smoke, ate well, exercised and stayed slim.

"If you have an unfavorable lifestyle and high gene risk, your risk of having a heart attack over the next 10 years is 10 percent," but with a good lifestyle, it was only 5 percent in one of the groups in the study, Kathiresan said.

When researchers looked at the imaging results, genetic and lifestyle factors matched how much artery plaque was seen.

Dr. Pamela Morris of the Medical University of South Carolina, who heads the American College of Cardiology's prevention committee, said some patients with a strong family history of heart problems will say I'm doomed.