Stroke Belt States high in heart failure too....

Today's Post: Monday, 2-7-2011

Last Weds, Reuters Health had this story:

“U.S. "stroke belt" also hit by heart failure.”

It seems that researchers found that in 6 contiguous states -- Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and Oklahoma -- the rate of death from heart failure was 31 per 100,000 people. That’s 69 % higher than the national average of 18 heart-failure deaths per 100,000 people, the researchers reported in the American Journal of Cardiology. This effect was true for both whites and African Americans.

In these “stroke belt” states, stroke death rates are about 50 % higher than in the rest of the country. This is already known.

The good news is that by NOT doing the things that people in these states do more of, you can avoid getting the strokes, heart attacks, and heart failure they do. (You’ll also be a lot less fat.)

In this study, SOURCE: http://bit.ly/hFWes3 American Journal of Cardiology, online January 19, 2011, the researchers found that death rates from heart failure where the heart begins to pump less well and often causes fluid build up were higher.

Actual heart attacks, blood vessels with blockages in them, and higher high blood pressure tend to cause heart failure.

Heart failure and stroke share some causes such as clogged arteries, high blood pressure and diabetes.

The researchers next step is to find out what causes this double effect.

One of the researchers said that a high intake of fried fish, more common in much of this set of states, might be a partial cause.

He also said that they haven’t yet established if this is because more people in this area get strokes and heart disease, or get less effective care.

I grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma and my younger brother recently moved back to the Oklahoma City area.

And, I’ve noticed some trends there when I lived there and in the many years since I lived there.

The mainstream people in these states tend to drink more soft drinks, eat more fast food, and eat packaged foods in front of their TV sets than they do in the San Francisco Bay Area of California where I live now. No surprise, the percentage of people who are obese or have big waists is higher in these states than in the rest of the United States.

In these states, it gets hot enough outside in the summer that people tend to stay inside in the air conditioning and get less exercise because of this.

And, for younger people and for the very warm but not so hot months, people who do go outside are thirsty more often from sweating. But, since people there drink soft drinks, that means they drink more of them.

So, between exercising less and drinking more soft drinks, these factors mean people in these states are fatter and tend to have higher blood sugar and triglycerides and higher blood pressure.

The fast food sales per capita in this part of the country are also quite high.

So, in addition, to the high fructose corn syrup and artificial sweeteners in the soft drinks, the high glycemic fries and refined grain buns, and the foods that until recently have been often fried in trans fats – hydrogenated vegetable oils also high in omega 6, this means that a very large part of what they eat and drink tends to cause heart attacks, cardiovascular disease, and high blood pressure.

This is also a part of the country where much home and restaurant foods use shortening as a fat in things like biscuits, pie crusts, and corn bread. Unfortunately, shortening is pure hydrogenated vegetable oils and is the virtual mother lode of trans fats!

These foods and drinks cause heart disease directly; and both the narrowed blood vessels and the obesity cause high blood pressure.

There’s more. More people smoke in these states and do so in public as well. So even nonsmokers are exposed to more tobacco smoke. Tobacco smoke’s worst and most certain harm, even more than causing 30 % of all cancers, is directly causing plaque build up in your blood vessels. Tobacco smoke also triggers heart attacks in people who otherwise would have escaped them.

Given all these factors, I strongly suspect that it’s mostly more people are having strokes or getting heart failure or getting worse cases of them than a lack of quality of medical care that causes these effects.

So, to avoid these effects yourself.

1. Don’t drink soft drinks and rarely eat in fast food places.

2. Don’t eat foods made with trans fats or refined grains or high fructose corn syrup.

In addition to doing the first thing above, use no shortening at home (never buy it & throw it out if you have it now), eat no foods in restaurant that likely contain it such as biscuits or pie crusts, or corn bread. Fried foods that likely were fried in shortening also are best avoided.

And, buy or eat no foods that contain ANY hydrogenated vegetable oils.

3. Get regular exercise virtually every week. And, when it’s hot exercise in the early morning when it’s less hot. Or exercise in an air conditioned room at home or at a gym. (If you do sweat a lot from your exercise, see the next point.)

4. If you sweat when it’s hot, drink water or ice water instead of soft drinks.

5. To the best of your ability, avoid second hand smoke. Quit immediately if you smoke. And, be sure the room where you sleep and where you work never are used by smokers and are smoke free.

6. Don’t eat fried fish. Similarly, don’t eat farmed fish as it is far higher in pollutants than is likely safe. Eat wild caught fish that is sautéed in olive oil or poached or baked instead. And/ or take omega 3 oil supplements from purified fish oil or the algae the fish get it from.

7. These 6 steps will help many people lose a significant number of pounds of fat or to not gain them in the first place.

And, if you still remain fat once you have been doing them awhile, do more strength training, interval cardio, and walking each week. Eat more green and nonstarchy vegetables and program in some small calorie reduction and keep track of your weight until you lose at least 5 % of your initial body weight.

8. This may not fit this geographic effect, but taking the ubiquinol form of CoQ10 as a supplement helps prevent heart failure. And, eating blueberries often tends to prevent strokes.