Although there are already mountains of research proving that exercise is good for heart health but researchers at the Cooper Clinic in Dallas have discovered a new one that could help you avoid a heart attack.

If you have a high level of fitness your risk of dying of a heart attack may be reduced by nearly 300% compared to people with a low fitness level.

The findings of the research could help explain why exercise is so beneficial, said study author Dr. Timothy S. Church of The Cooper Institute in Dallas, Texas. People with high levels C-reactive protein (CRP), which is a measure of inflammation in the body, have a higher than average risk of cardiovascular disease.

Several recent studies indicate that testing for CRP is a better predictor of heart attack than high cholesterol. A growing consensus among scientists is that common disorders such as heart disease, cancer arthritis and Alzheimer's disease are all caused in part by inflammation.

The New England Journal of Medicine has published three articles showing that the presence of blood indicators of inflammation are strong predictive factors for determining who will develop coronary artery disease and suffer heart attacks

During the study, Church and his colleagues measured fitness and CRP levels in 722 men. To determine how fit each man was, the researchers asked him to walk on a treadmill of increasing incline for as long as he could.

The relationship between CRP levels and exercise remained even after the researchers eliminated other heart attack r

isk factors, such as age and obesity.

"The main benefit is just getting out of that lowest fitness group," Church added, meaning that the biggest drop in risk of elevated CRP levels in the body occurs between the people who are the least fit, and those who are only moderately more in shape.

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