Dick Butkus and Heart Disease in Athletes
Dick Butkus played football for the Chicago Bears from 1965 to 1973 and was regarded as one of the greatest, fiercest and most intimidating linebackers in professional football history. He played in eight Pro Bowls, was named a first-team All-Pro six times, and twice was the NFL’s Defensive Player of the Year. He was voted NFL 1960s All-Decade Team, NFL 1970s All-Decade Team, NFL 75th Anniversary All-Time Team and NFL 100th Anniversary All-Time Team.
Snacks Can Change a Healthful Diet to an Unhealthful One
A healthful diet can help to prevent diseases and prolong life, but snacking on unhealthful foods can negate your diet efforts even if your regular meals are healthful. Highly-processed, sugar-added snacks can make you hungrier so you eat more food and have higher blood levels of triglycerides that are associated with increased risk for obesity, heart attacks and strokes.
The ZOE PREDICT study from London followed the snacking habits of 854 people, and found that 50 percent of those who ate primarily healthful meals did not eat healthful snacks.
Brooks Robinson, Heart Disease and Prostate Cancer
On September 26, 2023, Baltimore Orioles baseball great Brooks Robinson died from heart disease at age 86. He had been diagnosed with prostate cancer at age 72, but most people with prostate cancer do not die from their cancer, they die primarily from heart disease. Heart disease and prostate cancer have the same risk factors
Strength Training May Be More Effective than Aerobic Exercise to Help Prevent Heart Attacks
Several recent studies show that resistance training for strength may be more effective than aerobic exercise, such as jogging or walking, to help prevent high blood pressure and heart attacks. This may surprise you because many champion body builders and weight lifters have died at very young ages from heart attacks, but the causes of these deaths are likely to have been their use of hormones such as anabolic steroids, growth hormones and insulin.
Every New Contact Puts You At Risk for Sexually Transmitted Diseases
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reports that 20 million new cases of venereal diseases occur every year. One out of five North American adults have a sexually transmitted disease (STD), and STDs cost the U.S. healthcare system nearly $16 billion/year. Worldwide, 31 percent of adults have genital herpes (HPV) that causes many cases of genital and oral cancers
Having High Cholesterol Increases Risk for Dementia
Thirty percent of North Americans over the age of 85 suffer from dementia. A recent study shows that people whose blood cholesterol levels varied the most over a 12 year period had a 19 percent increased risk for Alzheimer’s dementia compared to those with little or no variability, and people who had high variations in their triglyceride levels had a 23 percent increased risk for Alzheimer’s disease.
Emulsifiers in Processed Foods Associated with Increased Risk for Heart Attacks
The French NutriNet-Santé cohort study has strengthened the association between processed foods and heart attacks. Their results suggest a link between the dietary intake of emulsifiers and an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
Otzi the Iceman and 5,300 Years of the Diseases of Inflammation
In 1991, hikers in the Italian Alps discovered Otzi the Iceman, a man who was preserved in ice after his murder about 5,300 years ago. He was killed by a hard hit on his head and an arrow through his shoulder when he was about 46 years old. He is now entombed at the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology in Bolzano, Italy with a life-size statue of him as he may have looked standing nearby.
MRIs Help to Reduce Prostate Biopsies
A study of 23,802 Swedish men found that getting an MRI before scheduling a prostate biopsy was associated with reduced proportion of men who received biopsies,, reduced biopsies in low-risk prostate cancers (Gleason score of 6 or lower) who usually are not treated, and increased detection of the number of men at high risk for prostate cancer (Gleason score greater than 6) who need immediate treatment
Avoid Diets that Severely Restrict Carbohydrates or Fats
There are healthful and harmful fats and healthful and harmful carbohydrates. It makes no sense to try to restrict either most fats or most carbohydrates. You need soluble fiber and resistant starch carbohydrates to help prevent heart attacks and prolong your life, and you also need monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats to help prevent heart attacks, certain cancers and premature death.