What health risks do you take?

Risks come in different forms.  You can break them down into categories related to where you perceive possible dangers. For example, consider mental, emotional, hypothetical and physical.

In August 2006,  Yusuf, a global heart specialist at McMaster University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, reported 9 risk factors account for 90% of heart disease in every population on Earth.  This physician perceives most of the associated risks to be or relate to physical ones;

Abdominal obesity 
Alcohol
Bad cholesterol/good cholesterol
Diabetes
Eating fruits and vegetables
Exercise
High blood pressure
Psychosocial stress
Smoking
 
More general health risks
Under-nutrition continues to be a contributing factor in more than half of all child deaths in developing countries.  This issue has been linked to lack of awareness and adequate education.
In contrast, obesity is becoming a global problem - estimated to affect more than one billion adults world-wide.  (~500,000 people in North America and Western Europe die from obesity-related diseases each year).

Dr Christopher Murray, who has been responsible for World Health Organisation(WHO) reports, has said: "Globally, we need to achieve a much better balance between preventing disease and merely treating its consequences.

"This can only come about with concerted action to identify and reduce major risks to health."