Cardiovascular Risk Reduction: We Have the Will, But Do We Have the Way?

Abstract

As Rippe, Angelopoulos, and Zuckley pointed out, coronary heart disease “represents the quintessential lifestyle disease of developed countries,” offering both opportunities and challenges for the routine practice of lifestyle medicine. Although the empirical evidence provides a compelling rationale for the modification of preventable cardiovascular risks, their review prompts discussion of the continuing tendency for practice to lag behind knowledge, the persisting challenges to narrowing this knowledge-practice divide, and the emerging trends that may further advance cardiovascularrisk reduction efforts.