(6/28/2005) Heart Attacks common in accidents?

[ScubaSarus]

Let me chime in here with some theory and actuality.

A heart attack is caused by a blockage in an artery.

A blockage can be caused buy build up of junk in the artery over time gradually usually causing some symptons on the way.

Another way a blockage could occur is a sudden rupture of an unstable plaque causing a build up in the artery. What causes this sudden rupture ?
What causes plaques to be unstable? Therory here is new fat deposits and oxidised tissues (cells). Fat streaks damaging an artery and a build up of white cells coming to protect the damaged artery.

Theories (causes of a plaque rupture)
- Stress or excitment possibly leading to a spasm of the artery.
- Build up of sudden blood pressure in the artery possibly stressing the lumen
-It just happens

The above said may be the reason there are no symptoms before the attack.
I must state that a person whose arteries are 90% clogged may be less likely to have an attack than a person than a person whose arteries are only 50 % clogged. If the person whose at 90% has more stable plaques than the person at 50%. Statins may help this process.

So if you have a high fat diet, smoke, ingest mucho oxidants, have high BP you could be a ticking time bomb with unstable plaques waiting to rupture. A stressful event could cause the rupture not to mention donning dive gear is stressful.

Now these are only theories.


But that said the best thing one can do is have a low fat diet, take BP meds a low dose ex. Atenolol 25 mg to control BP if BP is high, try to avoid stress, and don't smoke, keep the weight down (get lean and mean), asprin in the morning with breakfast, that said you have reduced the odds of an attack.

I always worry about those with bad diets, overweight, stressed, who don't excercise and then suddenly go out and do strenuous activiuty.

I will state with confidence that a proper diet void of American Eating habits will go much further at reducing weight than excercise although excercise is important. I lost about 10 -15 ls over a period of 45 days in which I could not excercise and did this thru diet alone.

What did I do.

I made a diary of every calorie I ate, carb count, and fat count for a week. And cut my diet to were I could not maintain present weight. (There are charts).

I eat a low fat high complex carb diet. Hardly no sugar at all. Complex carbs are harder to breakdown than the simple carbs. I bicycle or jump rope 3x weekly.

I eat whole wheat pancakes in the morning made of water. A veggie burger at lunch (2 g fat). Post whole weat squares for snacks maybe a whole or rye wheat bagle. String beans and kidney beans for supper.More whole wheat square at night before bead.

Getting rid of sugar and simple carbs is key. They cause an insulin release removing sugar from the blood making you more hungry. And control hunger pains were always a concern for me.

I know I live like a ascetic Buddha but I want to keep on diving with confidence and not have other worry about me.

 

[MASS-Diver]

Let me chime in here with some theory and actuality.

A heart attack is caused by a blockage in an artery.

A blockage can be caused buy build up of junk in the artery over time gradually usually causing some symptons on the way.

Another way a blockage could occur is a sudden rupture of an unstable plaque causing a build up in the artery. What causes this sudden rupture ?
What causes plaques to be unstable? Therory here is new fat deposits and oxidised tissues (cells). Fat streaks damaging an artery and a build up of white cells coming to protect the damaged artery.

Theories (causes of a plaque rupture)
- Stress or excitment possibly leading to a spasm of the artery.
- Build up of sudden blood pressure in the artery possibly stressing the lumen
-It just happens

The above said may be the reason there are no symptoms before the attack.
I must state that a person whose arteries are 90% clogged may be less likely to have an attack than a person than a person whose arteries are only 50 % clogged. If the person whose at 90% has more stable plaques than the person at 50%. Statins may help this process.

So if you have a high fat diet, smoke, ingest mucho oxidants, have high BP you could be a ticking time bomb with unstable plaques waiting to rupture. A stressful event could cause the rupture not to mention donning dive gear is stressful.

Now these are only theories.


But that said the best thing one can do is have a low fat diet, take BP meds a low dose ex. Atenolol 25 mg to control BP if BP is high, try to avoid stress, and don't smoke, keep the weight down (get lean and mean), asprin in the morning with breakfast, that said you have reduced the odds of an attack.

I always worry about those with bad diets, overweight, stressed, who don't excercise and then suddenly go out and do strenuous activiuty.

I will state with confidence that a proper diet void of American Eating habits will go much further at reducing weight than excercise although excercise is important. I lost about 10 -15 ls over a period of 45 days in which I could not excercise and did this thru diet alone.

What did I do.

I made a diary of every calorie I ate, carb count, and fat count for a week. And cut my diet to were I could not maintain present weight. (There are charts).

I eat a low fat high complex carb diet. Hardly no sugar at all. Complex carbs are harder to breakdown than the simple carbs. I bicycle or jump rope 3x weekly.

I eat whole wheat pancakes in the morning made of water. A veggie burger at lunch (2 g fat). Post whole weat squares for snacks maybe a whole or rye wheat bagle. String beans and kidney beans for supper.More whole wheat square at night before bead.

Getting rid of sugar and simple carbs is key. They cause an insulin release removing sugar from the blood making you more hungry. And control hunger pains were always a concern for me.

I know I live like a ascetic Buddha but I want to keep on diving with confidence and not have other worry about me.

So, I take it you don't buy the whole bacterial/inflammatory theory? IMO, if you at real data - it's the only theory that comes close to explaining heart disease. All the diet stuff really doesn't cut it for me - I just don't think the evidence is there.

 

[DaFireMedic]

Along similar lines, most firefighter line of duty deaths are due to heart attacks or motor vehicle accidents while responding to calls, but it still gets reported as an LODD.

This is indeeed similar with regards to heart attacks, although there are many unavoidable "line of duty" contributors to this, such as exposure to toxic smoke and chemicals, fast food (yes,...fast food is unavoidable )

Traffic collisions while responding code 3 (lights and siren) are definitely line of duty and should be attributed directly to it.

 

[ScubaSarus]

The Bacterial flamitory response needs mentioning and it is viable.

One thing why diet is a consideration is because during WWII when food was scarce in Europe the heart attack rate went down only to return after the war.

One thing I'de like to point out is there are many factors and it is prudent to cut down on as many factors as possibel to improve your odds.

If bacterial response is viable I must add that flossing the teeth and keeping your teeth clean has been mentioned in some journal articles.I think stress may be a bigger factor than diet if one reacts in a very negative way towards stress. But a good diet may offset increased odds due to stress.

We still haven't pinpointed the actual cause of all heart attacks. But to cut out risk factors is prudent.

 

[teksimple]

ScubaSarus -

I think you hit the key with insulin spikes. Several recent studies have definitively linked heart disease with insulin resistance. In fact, Dr. Cordain and others will emphatically tell you that diabetes, insulin resistance, and atherosclerosis are just symptoms of the same root disease: hyperinsulinemia.

On the other hand, you mention low fat as if all fat is a bad thing. Monounsaturated fats and certain types of polyunsaturated (Omega-3’s) are proven to reduce the bad LDL and raise the good HDL. Testing of the latter is still the de facto medical benchmark for risk of cardiovascular disease. Before the northern native Americans Inuit were introduced to white flour and sugar, basic medical examination showed an absence of cardiovascular disease, (along with an absence of myopia and dental caries). For much of the year, these Inuit populations consumed a diet consisting of 50% or more in fat. The difference with the fat that most people eat today is that much of it was Omega-3 fat.

So I will disagree that a low fat diet is best, or even recommended. Diets high in the good fats can help control blood sugar and appetite, as well as lower LDL and raise HDL. Don’t believe me? The Harvard Medical School Department of Nutrition has tons of evidence indicating just that. And what is so good about whole wheat? Compared to fresh fruits and vegetables, whole wheat has almost no nutrients, in fact, it is more of an anti-nutrient because the lectins bind to nutrients in the intestine and also make the intestine more permeable to nutrient consuming bacteria. I indulge in it myself, but clearly it is naïve to think it is “good” for you compared to whole fresh food.

Have you measured your LDL and HDL on your low fat diet?

 

[ScubaSarus]

My LDL/HDL is not as good as it should be. You bring up a startling fact about the lechtins binding to nutriens.

Thats someting I need to look into to. There is no substitute for fresh vegetables and that may be the way to go with Omega-3 etc (flax seed to be added to my diet immediately) a lot of the fruits are very high in sugar and I tend to avoid them but I love grapes and water melon.

I don't know if cholesterol is the key and feel there are other fatcors such as bad fats plus stress that cause arteries to clog. My buddy eats anything he wants and has no problems at all and after 65 yrs is strong as an ox. After diving he searches for the greasiest cheese burger he can find that has fries. He drinks maybe 4-5 cups of coffee a day.

Can genes actually play a big role. We are just starting to get the research in and the next 10 or so years will be surprising. My goal is to do genetic research myself after I finish school.