Heart Attack

Initially, partially hydrogenated fats (trans fats) were artificially put into foods to substitute of the harmfulness of saturated fats.

We know today, that trans fats are possibly even more harmful than saturated fats. A new study conclusively reports that erythrocytes (or red blood cells) with a higher level of trans fats, was significantly related to the amount of trans fats that a person had eaten.

Editor's Note:

"Race" is sometimes mentioned as a risk factor in the development of certain cancers and a number of other diseases. When you read this in a discussion about an illness, note that the explanation seldom refers to anything biological. Instead, it usually refers to behavior, such as eating habits. The kinds of behavior usually mentioned as risk factors are culturally determined. They are not genetic or biological.

According to a recent (July, 2006) study in Denmark, living alone can have dire implications for the heart.

Women over age 60 and men older than 50 who live alone have a two- to three-fold higher risk for unstable angina, myocardial infarction, or sudden cardiac death, according to the researchers.

if you have too much cholesterol in your bloodstream, it can lead to atherosclerosis, a condition in which fat and cholesterol are deposited in the walls of the arteries in many parts of the body, including the coronary arteries feeding the heart. In time, narrowing of the coronary arteries by atherosclerosis can produce the signs and symptoms of heart disease, including angina and heart attack.

Losing a job later in life more than doubles the risk of having a heart attack or stroke, according to research from Yale University.

The Yale University study started in 1991 and ran for 10 years. It was based on more than 12,500 people from almost 8,000 households, but focused in on more than 4,300 people aged between 51 and 61 who were all in work at the time the study began.

Mary L'Abbé, director of the bureau of nutritional sciences at Health Canada said that a ban would not be correct, because trans fats occur naturally in lamb, beef, and milk. Regulating trans-fats will decrease consupmtion and the risk of heart disease. Trans-fats have no nutritional value. When they are used in processed foods, they improve taste and increase shelf-life.

According to a study described by the National Institute of Mental Health, it appears that depression is an important risk factor for heart disease along with high blood cholesterol and high blood pressure. A study has found that people who had a history of depression were four times more likely to suffer a heart attack and those who were depressed were four times as likely to die after a heart attack in the next 6 months as those who were not depressed.

On June 20, 2006, the American Heart Association issued new diet and lifestyle recommendations in the fight to prevent cardiovascular disease — the nation’s No. 1 killer.

Intended for healthy Americans age 2 and older, the recommendations, which replace guidelines issued in 2000, now recommend:

Smoking, obesity, or high blood pressure are major risk factors for heart disease and stroke, and although a smaller risk factor, air pollution has been recognized as contributing to cardiovascular disease. Both short and long-term exposures have caused stroke and heart attack deaths.

Researchers at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis report that "...lower levels of T3, cholesterol and the inflammatory molecules TNF and C-reactive protein, combined with evidence of "younger" hearts in people on calorie restriction, suggest that humans on CR (Calorie Restriction) have the same adaptive responses as did animals whose rates of aging were slowed by CR."