The second Northwestern Medicine study examined three generations of families from the Framingham Heart Study to determine the heritability of cardiovascular health. Heritability includes a combination of genetic factors and the effects of a shared environment such as the types of foods that are served in a family.

Only a small percentage of the United States population - 8 percent -- has ideal levels of all the risk factors for cardiovascular health at middle age.

The study found that only a small proportion of cardiovascular health is passed from parent to child; instead, it appears that the majority of cardiovascular health is due to lifestyle and healthy behaviors.

"What you do and how you live is going to have a larger impact on whether you are in ideal cardiovascular health than your genes or how you were raised," said Norrina Allen, the lead study author and a postdoctoral fellow in preventive medicine at the Feinberg School.

The Northwestern Medicine study looked at three generations of families including 7,535 people at age 40 and a separate group of 8,920 people at age 50. The goal was to see who was in ideal cardiovascular health at these two critical periods in middle age.

Both Northwestern Medicine studies build on previous research from the department of preventive medicine that has provided the core for the national definition of cardiovascular health over the past decade, noted Lloyd-Jones.

"We really need to encourage individuals to improve their behavior and lifestyle and create a public health environment so people can make healthy choices," Lloyd-Jones said. "We need to make it possible for people to walk more and safely in their neighborhoods and buy fresh affordable fruit and vegetables in the local grocery store. We need physical activity back in schools, widely applied indoor smoking bans and reduced sodium content in the processed foods we eat. We also need to educate people to reduce their calorie intake. It's a partnership between individuals making behavior changes but also public health changes that will improve the environment and allow people to make those healthy choices."

Source: Northwestern University