Having diabetes puts you at two to three times more at risk of a heart attack or stroke than a non diabetic person. Evidence has shown that by keeping tight control of your blood sugars, cholesterol level and blood pressure you can reduce this risk by up to 40%.

What is cardiovascular disease?

Your heart is a very hard working muscle which requires a good supply of oxygen rich blood. This blood is delivered by the coronary arteries which sit on the outside of the hearts surface. Over a period of years these arteries develop a ‘plaque’, making them narrower – this is otherwise known as ‘heart disease’ or ‘atheroma’.

The Risks

The speed in which these arteries become narrowed depends on many factors, known as Risk Factors.

These include:

• smoking,
• high saturated fat diet/raised cholesterol levels,
• lack of exercise / physical activity,
• hypertension (high blood pressure),
• diabetes.

It is thought that people with diabetes lay this plaque down in the arteries much easier than people who don’t have diabetes – increasing their ‘cardiovascular risk’. This is why it is very important to ensure your cholesterol level and blood pressure are regularly checked and monitored, that you don’t smoke and that if you do you seriously consider stopping and that you are physically active on a regular basis.

Medication may be suggested to help reduce your cardiovascular risks i.e aspirin.

Eating five portions of fruit and vegetables a day and 1-2 portions of oily fish a week protects your heart.