They say picture is worth a thousand words - but could an image also save lives?
Aussies are being given a crucial glimpse into the health of their blood vessels in the hope that it will compel them to make life-saving changes to their diet and lifestyle.
Researchers at Edith Cowan University are testing whether showing patients scans of calcium build-up in their aorta - the main artery that carries blood away from your heart to the rest of your body - will encourage them to lead a healthier lifestyle and prevent heart disease and stroke.
The project will use a simple scan from bone density machines to identify the build-up of calcium in the abdominal aorta. Heart disease and stroke are responsible for around one in every three deaths globally.
This world-first randomised controlled trial is being headed up by ECU's Professor Jonathan Hodgson and Associate Professor Josh Lewis.
"We know that by improving diet, increasing physical activity and stopping smoking, we can prevent most heart attack and stroke events and deaths," Professor Hodgson said.
"The problem is that your first symptom of a problem is often your last, with about one third of all events being fatal. Therefore, early detection is critical."
Associate Professor Lewis said the information provided to participants will give a visual cue to the damage already done to their blood vessels.
"We're confident this will prompt better diet and lifestyle choices to prevent future heart attack and stroke," he said.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics 95 per cent of Australians don't eat enough fruit and vegetables and more than 80 per cent of adults don't do enough exercise.
Professor Hodgson and his team are recruiting older Australians who will receive their imaging results with standardised dietary and lifestyle advice (videos) developed by dieticians, exercise physiologists and clinicians.
The team from ECU is also working with experts from Flinders University, University of Western Australia and James Cook University and the University of Minnesota in the US.