The “Going Red for Women” campaign will flourish in February with women sporting their red dresses in support of heart health month, but are women really getting the prevention message? Young women pursuing a career and raising a family are most at risk as they often put off medical care not realizing they are a candidate for a heart attack or stroke.

According to a recent study published in JAMA Internal Medicine, young women who've had a heart attack will have a twenty fold increased risk of a second heart attack, and a tripled risk of a first stroke, according to findings. Two more recent studies published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology confirm that women under the age of 55 are often left in the dark when it comes to knowing the risk factors of heart disease.

“When it comes to heart health, women have different warning signs and nutritional needs,” says Dana Cohen, M.D., a nationally renowned internal and integrative medicine specialist whose multi-disciplinary approach has helped treat thousands of patients using a variety of conventional and complementary therapies.

“One of the most important connections doctors need to make for their female patients is the relationship between heart and bone health.”

For example, Cohen says calcium supplementation plays an important role for building bones but can cause problems for the heart if another nutrient, vitamin K2, is missing from the calcium supplement.

“Your doctor may advise you to stop taking calcium supplements, but that’s not the solution,” said Cohen. “Calcium needs to be taken along with vitamin K2, as it plays a critical role of regulating calcium metabolism by keeping the calcium in your bones and out of your arteries where calcium buildup can lead to artery clogging that can cause heart disease and strokes.”