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Dr. Oz and Dr. Roizen
THE YOU DOCS

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And you thought your RRSP statement was scary. How about the fact that more than half of all heart attacks strike people who seem perfectly healthy - no high LDL cholesterol, no high blood pressure? Don't cue up the menacing music yet: There are other known risk factors, and you can control them relatively easily.

One reason a heart attack happens to a seemingly healthy person like you is that there's a stalker in your arteries: inflammation. And now what we've been doing to combat it at New York Presbyterian and the Cleveland Clinic has been confirmed by a Harvard Medical study. The study found that if you're in good shape otherwise but have this villain, taking a statin drug could slash your risk of a horror-story heart attack by 50 per cent.

People in the study had fairly healthy levels of lousy LDL (under 130 mg/dl) but high levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), a sign of chronic inflammation. Those who got the statin drugs saw their CRP counts fall 37 per cent and their absolute risk of a heart attack drop. And when you control your risk of a heart attack, you also control your risk of stroke, impotence, kidney failure and even wrinkles. A major cause of all of these is arterial aging, and while arterial aging is typical, it is neither normal nor necessary.

Does this mean you need a statin, even if your cholesterol's isn't high? Maybe. But there's a better take-home message: Don't wait until you need a drug to get serious about inflammation. Here's how to keep it in check, with or without a statin:

Know your CRP score. Get a baseline test of your CRP levels in your 20s, again at 35, and annually after your 50th birthday. Get an hs-CRP (short for "high-sensitivity") test, which detects CRP in low ranges. Regular CRP tests are fine for checking high inflammation levels in rheumatoid arthritis and serious infections, but they won't detect the low levels that can threaten your heart.

A CRP under 1.0 mg/L is considered low risk for cardiovascular disease; 1 to 3 is considered average, and over 3 is considered high risk. That's the conventional wisdom; people in the study got treated at levels as low as 2 mg/L.

If your CRP is 2 or higher, do something about it. In addition to making inflammation-quenching lifestyle moves (more on those in a minute), talk with your doc about the pros and cons of statin therapy. By the way, the lower dose of statins that Dr. Mike usually prescribes seems to work just as well as the higher dose in the study. There's little doubt that a statin can lower your risk, but, like all drugs, statins can have side effects. If statins don't seem right...

Consider aspirin. We recommend half of a regular aspirin or two low-dose aspirin (162 milligrams total) every day if you're a man over age 35 or a woman over 40 (drink half a glass of water before and after). It cuts the risk of a heart attack by 36 per cent by lowering arterial inflammation and making platelets less likely to form heart-threatening clots. But talk to your doctor first; aspirin can raise your odds for developing an ulcer or gastric bleeding, but those odds are reduced by more than 60 per cent when you drink that half glass of water before and after.

Make good choices. Inflammation in your arteries is fueled by belly fat, inactivity, eating too much saturated fat and too few fruits, vegetables, whole grains and beans - and even by ongoing low-grade infections like sinusitis and gum disease. But you can control it with these steps:

* If you smoke, for heaven's sake, quit!

* Move! Get at least 30 minutes of walking every day.

* Take vitamin D (1000 IU) and omega-3 DHA (600 mg of DHA). If you prefer fish oil, take 2 g every day.

* Put colourful, high-fibre foods, including beans, blueberries and tomatoes, on your plate at every meal. A high-fibre diet can reduce CRP levels. So can the nutrients in orange vegetables, tomatoes, herbs like oregano and fresh-pressed extra-virgin olive oil.

* DVR Leno, Letterman and Stewart tonight, and turn in early. Or catch them on the Web the next day. Sleep-deprived people - especially women - have shown a marked increase in proteins associated with inflammation.

* Floss. Plaque buildup in your mouth may provoke inflammation.

* Battle belly fat, even if you're skinny. The higher your percentage of body fat, especially around your middle, the more proinflammatory cytokines are racing around in your blood. To lower your body fat, use the triple threat: aerobic exercise, weight training and a balanced diet.

The You Docs - Mike Roizen and Mehmet Oz - www.RealAge.com are authors of 'YOU: Being Beautiful - The Owner's Manual to Inner and Outer Beauty.' Their column runs Saturday.