Waking Up is Hard to Do

[Guest guest]

" HSI - Jenny Thompson " <HSIResearch

 

Waking Up is Hard to Do

Mon, 20 Sep 2004 08:55:35 -0400

 

Waking Up is Hard to Do

 

Health Sciences Institute e-Alert

 

September 20, 2004

 

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Dear Reader,

 

A wake-up call for Baby Boomers. That's what many newscasters

were calling the recent emergency heart surgery performed on

former President Bill Clinton. But the underlying message was not:

" Wake up and get heart healthy. " It was: " Wake up and take your

drugs. "

 

Coincidentally, just one week before President Clinton was

admitted to the hospital, a major new study on heart disease risk –

reported in The Lancet – delivered just the opposite message:

" Wake up and get heart healthy. No medication necessary. "

 

But for those who are long-time HSI members and e-Alert readers,

no wake-up call was required, because the Lancet study revealed

specific details about heart disease risk that we first told you about

nearly three years ago.

 

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Presidential privilege

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According to White House medical reports, President Clinton was

taking the cholesterol-lowering statin drug Zocor when he left

office in 2001. But after he lost weight and his cholesterol

dropped, he stopped taking the drug.

 

Naturally, this detail was pounced on by mainstream doctors who

crowed, " See what happens when you don't take your pills? "

 

ABC news stated that some cardiologists predict that Clinton " will

have to take a much higher dose of a cholesterol-lowering drug for

the rest of his life. " No surprise there. After a heart bypass, statin

therapy is mainstream medicine's recommended standard of care.

 

But in a Newsday report, Dr. Valavanur Subramanian, chairman of

cardiovascular surgery at New York's Lenox Hill Hospital, noted

that two of the three arteries used in Clinton's operation were

mammary arteries, taken from his chest. Dr. Subramanian

described these arteries as " extraordinarily resistant to cholesterol

buildup. "

 

So you have to wonder; if the new arteries resist cholesterol so

efficiently, then why put him on a high dose of statins? The

answer: Well... because that's just the way they do it! But that's

only the start. According to Dr. Subramanian, Clinton's doctors

will probably also recommend taking a daily aspirin, along with a

diruretic drug (to prevent buildup of fluid), and a beta blocker (to

help regulate heartbeat).

 

That's an impressive drug cocktail. And potentially quite

dangerous when you add up the known side effects. So if you

happen to be an FOB (friend of Bill's), please forward this e-Alert

to him, because there's a new study he should know about before

he sends a truck to his local pharmacy to pick up an oversized crate

of pills.

 

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Ratio days

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The new study is titled INTERHEART, and the editors of The

Lancet call it possibly the most " robust " study ever conducted on

heart attack risk factors. About 15,000 heart attack patients were

matched with the same number of subjects who had not

experienced any heart problems. The subjects were recruited from

all over the world, and were examined by more than 260

researchers who gathered data on a variety of heart disease risks

for about a decade.

 

Here's fair warning: Those who buy the concept that the number

one risk factor for heart attacks is either high cholesterol or

elevated levels of LDL (the " bad " cholesterol), will be

disappointed in this study, because NEITHER of them showed up

among the top causes of heart attacks.

 

According to INTERHEART, the factor that rates as the number

one risk of heart attack is an unacceptable ratio of apolipoproteinB

(apoB) to apolipoproteinA1 (apoA1). And if that looks like Greek

at first, don't worry, it's actually pretty simple. Apolipoprotein is

cholesterol's protein component. ApoB is the protein found in

LDL, and apoA1 is found in HDL. The ideal apo ratio is one apoB

to two apoA1.

 

In other words, elevated LDL alone (the condition statins are used

to treat) was not found to be a major factor in heart attack risk.

It's all about the apo ratio.

 

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More to come...

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The INTERHEART study was launched more than a decade ago

when the importance of other factors that put the heart at risk were

not yet widely known; factors such as triglycerides, homocysteine

and C-reactive protein. Hopefully an INTERHEART II study is

underway that will take these elements into consideration. In the

meantime, the factors that the INTERHEART team found to be

most important after apo ratio were (from greater to lesser risk):

cigarette smoking, diabetes, high blood pressure, excessive

abdominal fat, stress, inadequate intake of fruits and vegetables,

and lack of exercise.

 

In the conclusion to the study, researchers wrote that the relative

risk for heart attack can be lowered by about 80 percent just by

doing three things: eating plenty of fruits and vegetables, getting

regular exercise, and avoiding smoking. Note that this list does not

include statin drugs.

 

There's the REAL wake up call for Baby Boomers.

 

In tomorrow's e-Alert I'll take a closer look at the importance of

the apo ratio, with some tips on how you can make sure your ratio

is in the safe range.

 

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....and another thing

 

I'm going to use the word " poll, " but don't run for the hills. This

isn't about a political poll, it's about two separate health polls that

reveal the difference between the way U.S. citizens perceive the

quality of their diets, and how healthy their diets actually are.

 

In a recent telephone poll of more than 1,200 adults called at

random, nearly 70 percent said they were careful about what they

eat either most or all of the time.

 

But another poll of nearly 2,500 adults revealed that only 15

percent eat the recommended minimum of five servings of

vegetables each day. And 60 percent of those surveyed said that

eating only one to four servings of vegetables daily is adequate for

a healthy diet. Only 12 percent said they eat five servings every

day.

 

In addition to five vegetables per day, the USDA recommends two

to four daily servings of fruit. The recommended servings of both

fruits and vegetables are expected to rise when the USDA releases

its updated guidelines next year.

 

So... be honest now. How would you answer those same poll

questions? Do you believe your diet is healthy? Are you eating

enough fruits and vegetables?

 

In the second survey, 80 percent of the participants said they

expected to live at least into their 70s, and more than 40 percent

expect to reach their 80s. But their chances for doing so probably

aren't realistic unless they start filling their shopping carts with

fewer chips and crackers and more fresh produce.

 

To Your Good Health,

 

Jenny Thompson

Health Sciences Institute

 

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Sources:

" Lessons Learned – Clinton's Case Highlights Potential Dangers

of Quitting Statins " ABC News, 9/7/04, abcnews.go.com

" A Time-Tested way to Mend his Ailing Heart " Delthia Ricks,

Newsday, 9/7/04, newsday.com

" Effect of Potentially Modifiable Risk Factors Associated with

Myocardial Infarction in 52 Countries (the INTERHEART Study) "

The Lancet, Vol. 364, No. 9438, 9/11/04, thelancet.com

" Chill Out! " CBS News, 8/29/04, cbsnews.com

" New Test may Better Predict Heart Attacks " The Associated

Press, 8/31/04, msnbc.msn.com

" Poll: Americans See Themselves as Healthy " The Associated

Press, 9/8/04, wjz.com

" Americans Don't Eat Healthy " The Associated Press, 8/23/04,

wjz.com