Doctor explains how ordinary foods silently increase heart attack risk

Many people believe heart disease strikes unexpectedly, but experts emphasize that the processes leading to it develop over many years. Professor Dr. Olivija Dobilienė, head of the Ischemic Heart Disease Department at the Kaunas Clinics Heart Center, explains that changes become more noticeable after age 40, as accumulated risk factors begin to significantly impact the cardiovascular system.

While biological aging is a factor, Dobilienė stresses that cardiovascular diseases often result from a combination of aging and controllable risk factors. "We cannot change age, but many other factors can be controlled," she stated, noting that the risk is not solely determined by years lived but also by personal choices and lifestyle.

Decades of exposure to modifiable risk factors are a primary cause of rising mortality from cardiovascular diseases. Dobilienė lists increased systolic blood pressure, high cholesterol levels (both total and LDL), smoking, diabetes, and obesity as key contributors. After 40, natural biological changes occur, including stiffer blood vessels, reduced elasticity, and the gradual buildup of atherosclerotic plaques.

"Over time, the consequences of lifestyle accumulate – poor diet, lack of physical activity, smoking, being overweight, or insufficient sleep," the professor explained. "Therefore, the risk increases not due to one specific cause, but due to the totality of many factors." She added that a heart attack is rarely a sudden event but rather the result of atherosclerosis developing over decades, underscoring the importance of proactive heart health care.