U. S. cardiologists have said that people, even heart doctors, have a tough time making the right health choices for the heart.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported that Michigan cardiologist Dr. Barry Franklin, a respected nutrition and exercise expert and a prominent member of the American Heart Association, stopped to fill up his car at a gas station, and found himself buying Twinkies.

The Chronicle further said that during a break at a Heart Association conference in San Francisco this week, Franklin said the real lesson is that everyone is vulnerable to the environment, and making the right heart-healthy choices is tough, even for the experts.

"When you're dealing with a mass epidemic like obesity, you have to realize it's environmental. It's really easy to be inactive and it's really easy to eat the wrong food," said Dr. Lawrence Appel, an epidemiologist with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and chairman of the Heart Association's Council of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Metabolism. (With Input from Agencies)