I was shocked to see a report on the news this morning where it was reported that heart disease begins in childhood. Childhood, people! The time of innocence and Popsicles, riding bikes to the store for a bag of Doritos, chasing the ice cream man and birthday parties galore – oh, yeah, heart disease begins in childhood. I can see that. Apparently, so can scientists who have looked at autopsies of children as young as five who died in accidents and found evidence of fat lining the arteries of the heart. More children than ever are being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and everywhere you look you see children as big as adults.
I have lots of kids. Lots of kids means lots of treats and lots of birthday parties, lots of trips to the beach with snacks and lots of visits to the movie theater where it’s much cheaper to buy the jumbo popcorn – after all, SOMEONE will eat it, right? Well, no. It’s my job as a parent to keep them healthy, and in my house, that means limited fast food, no juice (except for V-8) and cakes and cookies on special occasions.
Sugar consumption is a major cause of premature health problems in the U.S. Americans ingest more than 22 teaspoons of added sugar (355 calories) every day, according to the 2001-2004 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. That’s two to three times what is recommended.
The American Heart Association has publicized their recommendations for men and women. The AHA says that most American women should not consume more than 100 calories of added sugar a day. Men should limit their intake to no more than 150 calories. One 12-ounce can of sugar-sweetened soda is 130 calories. That’s more than the entire daily recommendation for women, and nearly all that is recommended for men.
According to new research, being a pessimist may put you at risk of heart disease, or even death! Conversely, keeping a positive outlook can help protect your heart.
“We don’t know exactly why, but attitude does appear to matter when it comes to heart disease and health,” says University of Pittsburgh Medical Center internist Hilary A. Tindle, MD, MPH.
The study included 97,000 postmenopausal women, and none of them had heart disease prior to participation.
Bad eating habits isn’t the only thing that will make you fat. The stress of life will contribute significantly as well.
Studies of monkeys reveal an amazing parallel to human society. Carol A. Shively, PhD, and colleagues at Wake Forest University saw that those monkeys at the bottom of the pecking order in a monkey colony get blocked arteries much faster than the other monkeys. All of them in the study were fed the same high-fat diet.
The parallel to human society, of course, is that the poor are much more often heavier than the well-to-do. Being at the bottom rung of the social ladder has its stresses, human or animal.
With the passing of the King of Pop Michael Jackson of apparent cardiac arrest and the infomercial king Billy Mays of heart disease, guess what comes to the forefront of everyone’s minds. You guessed it.
It’s estimated that in 2005 more than 27 percent of all Americans died of a heart-related ailment. To put it in even more dire terms, one American dies every 37 seconds from complications related to heart disease.
These statistics, while getting worse, aren’t particularly new. Heart disease has been the leading killer in the U.S. for every year since 1900 excluding 1918 when there was a flu pandemic.
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