Even with the improvement of the last 20 years, there are still well over a half million deaths per year from heart attacks and strokes (down from the previous 1 million yearly). About a third of the 1.5 million people who have "coronaries" each year die from those attacks. Nearly 50 million Americans have some CVD, mostly high blood pressure (over 35 million) and coronary artery disease (CAD, about 5 million), with many more people who are undiagnosed. Our cholesterol level, a key contributing factor in CVDs, can only be determined with a blood chemistry analysis, while hypertension often does not reveal itself prior to its being found on a physical exam. When either elevated cholesterol levels or high blood pressure are found, cardiovascular damage may already have begun. Because it is difficult for people to know if they have high blood pressure, it has been labeled the "silent killer." Here, we will first look at the many risk factors for CVD, and then examine the underlying disease process, atherosclerosis.
The cardiovascular risk factors are commonly classified into the primary factors?of which there are three: cigarette smoking, high cholesterol, and high blood pressure?and the secondary of which there are many. Some of these significant factors in the genesis of CVD include obesity and being overweight, genetics, stress, a sedentary lifestyle, diabetes, and alcohol abuse. Many authorities feel that, even more than the moderate or high fat and cholesterol intake, it is the many nutritional deficiencies that arise from our present-day nutrition and that affect our cholesterol metabolism which lead to increased atherosclerosis. Deficiencies of vitamins C, E, and B6 and selenium are the main concerns. Other relevant nutrients are magnesium, chromium, niacin, essential fatty acids, and fiber. The types of fats consumed in the diet and the deficiency of the essential fatty acids, linoleic and linolenic, are felt by some authorities to be the source of the CVD problem. Udo Erasmus describes this in his book, Fats and Oils, in which he also suggests that the heated and hydro-genated "modern" oils used for cooking and frying are a big concern. Thus, margarines are a concern in regard to the atherosclerotic process. The increased consumption of homogenized milk fat in the standard milk appears to be linked with cardiovascular problems. An article by Wayne Martin in the November 1989 Townsend Newsletter for Doctors provides a great deal of support for the theory that cholesterol itself is not the culprit it is thought to be in the atherosclerotic process, but it is the hydrogenated and homogenized fats used and consumed in so many foods that are the disease-causing factors.
Cardiovascular Disease Risks
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| High cholesterol* | family history of | |
| | | caffeine |
| Hypertension | maleness | soft water |
| | obesity | hypothyroidism |
| Smoking | stress (type A) | cadmium toxicity |
| | lack of activity | |
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| | diabetes | |
| | aging (with other risks) | |
| | nutritional deficiencies: | nutritional deficiencies: |
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