How to Prevent a Heart Attack

Stressed? This may be the root cause of your heart disease.

And now for the important part: how to prevent heart disease. In my last post, I made the point that most heart attack victims have normal cholesterol levels. In the study I cited, which analyzed 65,396 patients hospitalized for heart disease, the average cholesterol level was a "healthy" 170 mg/dl. Not exactly what you'd expect to see based on our cholesterol-phobic society. Obviously, there's something else going on in the development of heart disease other than just your cholesterol level. 

Some of these factors are uncontrollable. For instance, just being a man increases my statistical risk for heart disease. So does my family history. There's nothing I can do to change that, unless I decided to become a woman. Something tells me that still wouldn't change my risk, but that's besides the point. Here are the things you CAN control, and some quick tips on just how to take care of it.

How to Prevent High Blood Pressure

Welp, I am officially done with my food service rotation... only one 2-week rotation left, with Miss Ana Zeller of Practical Nutrition, and I have a feeling this one will be the best of them all! Then, I'll be able to sit for the Registered Dietitian exam! That's right, Burn's gonna have credentials. Can't wait!

Okay, less about me, more about hypertension, aka high blood pressure (BP). As much as I have no interest in school food service, I have to admit my food service rotation gave me an immense amount of time each day to read research articles and learn shit. Over this past week, I've been absolved in hypertension... time to share.

First, some background info about hypertension... it's a pretty serious problem. Hypertension is the leading cause of cardiovascular disease (forget cholesterol), affecting approximately 1 billion individuals worldwide. More than 72 million Americans, or nearly 1 in 3 adults, are estimated to have hypertension but only 34% are able to return to a healthy blood pressure, via either drugs or lifestyle change. In 2008, 54,707 Americans died from hypertension, and another 300,000 died from related conditions. According to projections, over 90% of adults in the United States will develop hypertension by age 65. That is absurdly high. Right now, hypertension remains the most common reason for patients to visit the physician’s office (1).

I think it's safe to say that if you want to live a long, healthy life, this is something you need to avoid, no? Just say no to hypertension. Here's how.

How to Prevent Osteoporosis and Fractures

Osteoporosis.  You might be thinking, "I'm not an old lady, this doesn't concern me, I'm going to go back to watching Honey Boo Boo and snacking on mayonnaise."  Wrong.  Whether you're a man or a woman, young or old, you need to know about osteoporosis.  It may be more common in post-menopausal women, but it happens in men too, and how you live in your 20s could have a HUGE impact on whether you fall and break a hip in your 70s.  So listen up.  There's a lot of misinformation around this topic, and I don't want you popping calcium, vitamin D, and Boniva pills and thinking everything will be okay.  Ready?  Let's go.

First, some basics.

Osteoporosis:  A disease characterized by low bone mass and structural deterioration of bone tissue, leading to bone fragility and an increased susceptibility to fractures, especially of the hip, spine, and wrist.

In other words, having osteoporosis means you have weak bones that'll break on you a whole lot easier than they should.  Osteoporosis is responsible for more than 1.5 million fractures each year.  That's a lot.  What's more, up to 1/3 of hip fracture patients die within one year of their fracture, and up to 75% never walk independently again (1).  Obviously, the vast majority happen to older adults.  But it may be your bone health in your 20s that best predicts your bone health in your 70s.  Why?  Peak bone mass.

Top line = men, bottom line = women

Peak bone mass is just what it sounds like:  the point in life at which you have the thickest, densest, healthiest bones.  And that point is in your late 20s.  After that, it's very difficult/impossible to build more bone mass, and so it slowly declines into old age.  Key point... the more bone mass you can develop in your 20s, the more you'll have to work with when you're older.  It's never too early to start.  How do you do that?  You ask and I answer...