A heart attack occurs when blood flow to a section of heart muscle becomes blocked.

If the
flow of blood isn’t restored quickly, the section of heart muscle becomes damaged from lack of oxygen
and begins to die. Not smoking Controlling certain conditions, such as high blood pressure, high
cholesterol and diabetes Staying physically active. Eating healthy foods and Maintaining a healthy
weight. Reducing and managing stress all help prevent heart attacks.

Cancer (medical term: malignant neoplasm) is a class of diseases in which a group of cells
display uncontrolled growth (division beyond the normal limits), invasion (intrusion on and destruction
of adjacent tissues), and sometimes metastasis (spread to other locations in the body via lymph or
blood). Anything which replicates (our cells) will probabilistically suffer from errors (mutations). Unless
error correction and prevention is properly carried out, the errors will survive, and might be passed
along to daughter cells. Normally, the body safeguards against cancer via numerous methods, such as:
apoptosis, helper molecules (some DNA polymerases), possibly senescence, etc. However these error-
correction methods often fail in small ways, especially in environments that make errors more likely to
arise and propagate. For example, such environments can include the presence of disruptive
substances called carcinogens, or periodic injury (physical, heat, etc.), or environments that cells did
not evolve to withstand, such as hypoxia[5] (see subsections). Cancer is thus a progressive disease, and
these progressive errors slowly accumulate until a cell begins to act contrary to its function in the
organism. Thus cancer often explodes in something akin to a chain reaction caused by a few errors,
which compound into more severe errors. Errors which produce more errors are effectively the root
cause of cancer, and also the reason that cancer is so hard to treat: even if there were 10,000,000,000
cancerous cells and one killed all but 10 of those cells, those cells (and other error-prone precancerous
cells) could still self-replicate or send error-causing signals to other cells, starting the process over
again. This rebellion-like scenario is an undesirable survival of the fittest, where the driving forces of
evolution itself work against the body's design and enforcement of order. In fact, once cancer has
begun to develop, this same force continues to drive the progression of cancer towards more invasive
stages, and is called clonal evolution.[6]

The traditional definition of stroke, devised by the World Health Organization in the 1970s,[5] is
a "neurological deficit of cerebrovascular cause that persists beyond 24 hours or is interrupted by
death within 24 hours". This definition was supposed to reflect the reversibility of tissue damage and
was devised for the purpose, with the time frame of 24 hours being chosen arbitrarily. The 24-hour
limit divides stroke from transient ischemic attack, which is a related syndrome of stroke symptoms
that resolve completely within 24 hours.[2] With the availability of treatments that, when given early,
can reduce stroke severity, many now prefer alternative concepts, such as brain attack and acute
ischemic cerebrovascular syndrome (modeled after heart attack and acute coronary syndrome
respectively), that reflect the urgency of stroke symptoms and the need to act swiftly.[6] An embolic
stroke refers to the blockage of an artery by an embolus, a travelling particle or debris in the arterial
bloodstream originating from elsewhere. An embolus is most frequently a thrombus, but it can also be
a number of other substances including fat (e.g. from bone marrow in a broken bone), air, cancer cells
or clumps of bacteria (usually from infectious endocarditis).

Because an embolus arises from elsewhere, local therapy only solves the problem temporarily. Thus,
the source of the embolus must be identified. Because the embolic blockage is sudden in onset,
symptoms usually are maximal at start. Also, symptoms may be transient as the embolus is partially
resorbed and moves to a different location or dissipates altogether.

Emboli most commonly arise from the heart (especially in atrial fibrillation) but may originate from
elsewhere in the arterial tree. In paradoxical embolism, a deep vein thrombosis embolises through an
atrial or ventricular septal defect in the heart into the brain. Quit smoking
. Compared with nonsmokers, smokers on average have double the risk of ischemic stroke. And a
study in an August issue of the journal Stroke found a dose-response in female subjects, meaning that
the more cigarettes a woman smoked per day, the higher her odds of suffering a stroke. Two packs per
day boosted risk of stroke to nine times that of nonsmokers. The same study found that when subjects
quit smoking, their risk of stroke returned to normal within two years.

Get off the hormones, ladies. Hormone replacement therapy with estrogen, used to ease
symptoms of menopause, have been found to significantly boost a woman's risk of stroke. And
Tibolone, a synthetic HRT that mimics estrogen and the hormone progesterone, was found last year to
increase the risk of stroke in women older than 60. Also, smokers who take birth control pills are at far
greater risk of stroke, blood clots, and heart attack than women on the pill who don't smoke.

Eat your veggies. As if you need yet another reason to eat your vegetables, the American Heart
Association recommends people at elevated risk of cardiovascular disease, which includes stroke,
should make sure they get several servings a day. One reason is to increase intake of folic acid and
vitamins B6 and B12, which have been associated with lower blood levels of homocysteine.
Epidemiological studies suggest that high levels of this amino acid are associated with elevated rates
of heart disease and stroke. Folic acid and vitamins B6 and B12 can also be found in fortified grains
and cereals.

Take aspirin and a blood thinner, if your doctor recommends it. Low-dose aspirin is regularly
prescribed to prevent a second heart attack, stroke, or "mini-stroke" and also is given to patients who
are at high risk of having such a cardiovascular event. In those with abnormal heart rhythm known as
atrial fibrillation, the blood thinner warfarin is often also prescribed to help prevent stroke. But some
heart patients cannot safely take warfarin, which can cause dangerous bleeding and requires that the
patient follow strict dietary limitations. A study published online in a March issue of the New England
Journal of Medicine found that the incidence of stroke in those who cannot take warfarin went down by
a third (from 3.4 percent to 2.4 percent per year) when they took Plavix along with aspirin.

Keep blood pressure and cholesterol under control. Making lifestyle changes, including eating a
diet low in sodium and saturated fats, getting regular exercise, limiting alcohol intake, and staying
trim, can help you lower your stroke risk. So can taking medications your doctor may prescribe to
lower your blood pressure or cholesterol. Chronically uncontrolled blood pressure promotes hardening
of arteries and buildup of plaque, and a temporary spike in blood pressure can raise the risk of
hemorrhagic stroke, which is caused by bleeding in the brain. A study published in the May issue of
Lancet Neurology analyzed existing research and concluded that taking statins to lower "bad," or LDL,
cholesterol, if that level is initially too high, is associated with reduced rates of stroke.

Diabetes mellitus type 2 or type 2 diabetes (formerly called non-insulin-dependent

diabetes mellitus (NIDDM), or adult-onset diabetes) is a disorder that is characterized by high
blood glucose in the context of insulin resistance and relative insulin deficiency.[1] There is currently no
known cure for the condition, but it is often initially managed by increasing exercise and dietary
modification. As the condition progresses, medications are typically needed. Although its incidence is
far from universal, type 2 diabetes can arise from and be exacerbated by obesity, hypertension,
elevated cholesterol (combined hyperlipidemia), and with the condition often termed Metabolic
syndrome (it is also known as Syndrome X, Reavan's syndrome, or CHAOS). Other causes include
acromegaly, Cushing's syndrome, thyrotoxicosis, pheochromocytoma, chronic pancreatitis, cancer and
drugs. Additional factors found to increase the risk of type 2 diabetes include aging,[8] high-fat diets[9]
and a less active lifestyle.[10] Onset of type 2 diabetes can often be delayed through proper nutrition
and regular exercise.[18]

Interest has arisen in preventing diabetes due to research on the benefits of treating patients before
overt diabetes. Although the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force concluded that "the evidence is
insufficient to recommend for or against routinely screening asymptomatic adults for type 2 diabetes,
impaired glucose tolerance, or impaired fasting glucose,"[19][20] this was a grade I recommendation
when published in 2003. However, the USPSTF does recommend screening for diabetics in adults with
hypertension or hyperlipidemia (grade B recommendation).

In 2005, an evidence report by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality concluded that "there
is evidence that combined diet and exercise, as well as drug therapy (metformin, acarbose), may be
effective at preventing progression to DM in IGT subjects".[21]

Milk has also been associated with the prevention of diabetes. A questionnaire study was done by Choi
et al. of 41,254 men which including a 12 year follow up showed this association. In this study, it was
found that diets high in low-fat dairy might lower the risk of type 2 diabetes in men. Even though these
benefits are being considered linked to milk consumption, the effect of diet is only one factor that is
affecting the body’s overall health.[22]