From rxpgnews.com

Health
When It Comes to Nutrition and Health, Knowledge is Power
By Pankaj, US Correspondent
Mar 1, 2005, 17:16

Are nontraditional "lifestyle change" programs effective in improving people's health and reducing their risk of chronic disease? Researchers at Brigham Young University studied the Coronary Health Improvement Project, utilized by an Illinois health system. "The program highlights the importance of making more healthful lifestyle choices for preventing, arresting and reversing many common Western diseases and teaches participants how to implement these choices through a change in diet, physical activity, and smoking cessation," the researchers say.

They found that participants in the four-week, 40-hour education course learned the importance of a lifestyle that included healthy food choices and regular physical activity. They also found improvements in participants' resting heart rate, total cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and blood pressure. The researchers conclude the CHIP program is effective in changing nutrition and physical activity behaviors in the short term "and has the potential to dramatically reduce the risks associated with common chronic diseases in the long term."

All rights reserved by www.rxpgnews.com