|
|
Introduction
to Cardiovascular Disease |
|
|
Alpha Health Education Topics from the Book of Heart and Arterial Disease
|
Diseases of blood vessels are a major cause of premature disability and death in our society. Proper, adequate diet revision should be aggressively sought as a solution to this major endemic disease problem, if not by national policy, then by personal prerogative. Stephen J. Gislason MD Heart attacks and strokes are the most obvious consequence of damaged arteries and increased clotting of blood. The main event of both heart attacks and strokes is the occlusion by a sudden blood clot of one or more blood vessels; the clotting event is called a thrombosis. When blood flow is critically short cells die. When the coronary arteries are obstructed, the heart muscle is damaged - a myocardial infarct and may fail. When the arteries to the brain are obstructed a cerebral infarct occurs with loss of motor, sensory or cognitive abilities. Neither the heart nor the brain can repair the damage so that the injury leaves behind a permanent disability. Thrombosis occurs in arteries narrowed by fatty lesions in the arterial walls, a process known as arteriosclerosis. When the coronary or cerebral arteries are diseased it is a matter of time before symptoms of reduced blood flow are felt or an "attack" occurs. Aging men and women are having more heart attacks and strokes. Cardiovascular deaths are rising for the first time since 1980. In the USA alone 1.5 million people have heart attacks every year at a cost of $51.6 billion (1993 data). The American Heart Association's Heart & Stroke Facts reports cardiovascular diseases killed 954,138 in the US in 1993. Stroke deaths rose to 150,000. And the number of people treated in the hospital for cardiovascular diseases rose to 5.7 million. One explanation is that the population at risk is becoming more sedentary with an increase in obesity. Their food supply is clearly suspect and it is not just the fat in the diet. These arterial problems with different and complex origins link to the diets and lifestyle popular in Europe and North America and occur less often among physically active, vegetable-eating populations who seldom eat dairy products, meat, and other high-protein-fat foods. Well-known risk factors are family history, high blood pressure, smoking, diabetes, excess body fat, and physical inactivity. The risk of heart attacks positively correlates with higher blood levels of cholesterol; the risk of strokes does not. Smoking and diabetes are the greatest risk factors. Fat Is Not the Only Pathogen in Food High cholesterol theories of vascular disease are too simple. Cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events are thought of, simplistically, as just one disease. We prefer a whole-system's interactive model. No single dietary factor, such as an elevated cholesterol level, will be solely responsible for calamitous events. We must consider the total impact of the food supply. For example we should ask: "What about the sugar and the protein content of foods? What food factors increase clotting and increase the work-load on the heart? What dietary conditions predispose to arrythmias? What dietary factors are protective against ischemic damage to the heart and brain? The Solution -Diet Revision The 40 million Canadians and Americans who have coronary artery disease and the insuring agencies who pay their medical bills should seek the benefits of complete diet revision therapy! To improve the health of modern citizens and to reduce, at the same time, the increasing costs of health-care, self-responsibility for disease-prevention is required. Each person will have to alter disease-causing habits, change poor eating habits, stop smoking and drinking, and become more physically active. Many years ago, in his best-selling book "The Pritikin Promise", Nathan Pritikin advocated a more stringent low fat diet to combat cardiovascular disease. He, like many nutritional theorists, chose one food demon to attack, fat-cholesterol, but he also recommended limiting high protein foods such as poultry, lean meat, and fish to 3.5 ounces per day. Pritikin advocated high vegetable intake but discouraged the ingesting of vegetable oils. But some vegetable oils have important health benefits. Olive oil, for example, is protective. Dr. Dean Ornish treated patients with a very low fat vegan diet, similar to strict versions of the Alpha Nutrition and the Pritikin diet but with no meat.. He demonstrated improvement in patients with established coronary artery disease. Ornish's patients combined strict diet control with exercise, yoga, and meditation. Fat intake was less than 10% and oils were banned. His conclusion was that corrective diet and life-style changes will reverse established blood vessel disease and improve the quality of life. High Blood Pressure also relates to diet. For years, excessive sodium salt was associated with hypertension, and low sodium diets were recommended to all sufferers. As it turned out, only some people with high blood pressure are sodium sensitive. According to the Canadian Coalition for High Blood Pressure Prevention and Control, non-drug strategies should be the priority for hypertension control in the 90's. Smoking cessation, low fat diet, weight loss, exercise, reduced alcoholic beverage consumption, and increased potassium intake with decreased sodium are the important steps to avoid the problem of high blood pressure. A vegetarian diet is favorable for anyone with high blood pressure and other manifestations of cardiovascular disease. Diet Revision is EssentialWe have no difficulty in recommending aggressive diet revision, vigorous enough to prevent vascular disasters. Imagine that you live in a little cottage by the sea, think quiet thoughts, walk everywhere, tend your organic vegetable garden, cultivate fruit trees (never sprayed), and go fishing once or twice per week. Now you have a perfect setting and a perfect diet for enduring good health. Current recommendations for fat intake are shrinking progressively from 35% of total calories to 20%. Typical American diets contain as much as 37% fat, an extravagant surplus. A total of 15-25 grams of fat per day supplies our needs. The minimum requirements are 1-2% of total calories for adults and 3% for infants. Sodium restraint is considered a primary strategy of reducing high blood pressure. Increased intake of calcium and potassium may lower high blood pressure and extra potassium may protect against stroke-associated death. North American diets tend to offer sodium levels 10-20 times higher than actual need (minimum of 1100 mg/day, adults). Average consumption of NaCl is 10-14.5 grams/day. The proper ratio of Sodium to Potassium is probably of 1 to 1. Most diets have sodium disproportion with the ratio tending toward sodium excess at 3 or more to 1. The foods in Phase 1 and 2 of Alpha Nutrition automatically correct the sodium/potassium ratio and increase intake of magnesium. The Alpha Nutrition Program is designed to reduce cholesterol, total fat, saturated fats, and food allergy while increasing vegetable fiber-all desirable measures in the effort to prevent blood vessel diseases, heart attacks and strokes. Increased intake of potassium, magnesium and calcium is advocated with a reduction in sodium salt intake. Increased intake of six vitamins: folic acid, pyridoxine, Vitamin B12, beta carotene, ascorbic acid (vitamin C) and vitamin E-are recommended. The program can be recommended, along with exercise and relaxation, as the most important defenses against cardiovascular disease. Alpha Nutrition is desirable for people who are struggling with chronic symptoms that suggest they have food-related disease and also have some of the risk factors for arterial disease. Clues to the pervasive effects of the wrong food supply include headaches, fatigue, digestive symptoms, arthritic symptoms, food cravings and compulsive eating or drinking. The presence of recurrent or persistent symptoms means the complete comprehensive diet revision is required - not just salt and fat reduction.
|
