Addressing the Common Pathway Underlying Hypertension and Diabetes in People Who Are Obese by Maximizing Health: The Ultimate Knowledge Translation Gap

Table 1

Major modifiable risk factors for chronic lifestyle-related conditions.

Risk factor	Cardiovascular (ischemic heart disease & hypertension) and peripheral vascular disease	Chronic obstructive lung disease	Stroke	Type 2 diabetes mellitus	Cancer
Smoking	X	X	X	X	X
					(↑ risk of all-cause cancer*)
Physical inactivity	X		X	X	X
Obesity	X		X	X	X
Nutrition	X		X	X	X
High blood pressure	X		X	X
Dietary fat^†/blood lipids	X		X	X	X
Elevated glucose levels	X		X	X	X
Alcohol^‡	X		?	X	X

*Smoking is not only related to cancer of the nose, mouth, airways, and lungs, but smoking also increases the risk of all-cause cancer.
^†Partially saturated, saturated, and trans fats are the most injurious to health.
^‡Alcohol can be protective in moderate quantities, red wine in particular.
Sources: references [10–12].