Why heart attacks are rising in young adults and what to watch out for
nationalgeographic.com
nationalgeographic.com
> The biggest risk factors are high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, and obesity, all of which can clog and damage the arteries and blood vessels that carry oxygen-rich blood to the heart.
> While some of these conditions may be genetic, more often they’re brought on by years of unhealthy habits like poor diet and a sedentary lifestyle that typically begin early in childhood
> COVID is known to activate inflammatory responses in the body and make blood thicker and stickier, Yang said, which can make infected people more susceptible to blood clots that can clog arteries and lead to heart attack. However, it’s still not clear why younger adults appear to be more vulnerable to COVID’s cardiovascular complications.
> The AHA recommends following “Life’s Essential 8”: key measures that, if practiced, can improve and maintain your cardiovascular health. These include a healthy diet, regular physical activity, no tobacco smoking, and sufficient sleep, as well as managing your weight, cholesterol, blood sugar, and blood pressure.
1. Eat Better (whole foods, lots of fruits and vegetables, lean protein, nuts, seeds, and cooking in non-tropical oils such as olive and canola)
2. Be More Active (2½ hours of moderate or 75 minutes of vigorous physical activity per week)
3. Quit Tobacco
4. Get Healthy Sleep (7-9 hours of sleep each night)
5. Manage Weight (Optimal BMI is 25)
6. Control Cholesterol
7. Manage Blood Sugar
8. Manage Blood Pressure (Levels less than 120/80 mm Hg are optimal)
The target range for BMI is 18.5 to 24.9.
At 25, you're already overweight. [1]
If you know that BMI isn't accurate, you probably already know what you need to do about yours.
Largely pharmaceutical companies[1] https://www.heart.org/-/media/Files/Finance/21_22_Pharma_Fun...
Novartis Novo Nordisk Inc. Pfizer Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc. Bayer Healthcare Pharmaceuticals Inc Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals
all being the top contributors.
The maker of Crisco virtually launched the AHA as a nation-wide powerhouse in 1948 by designating a $17 million grant.
Where is and how much of that type of funding accounted?
There's a growing movement claiming saturated fats(coconut, palm, animal) are not as bad as once thought and that high levels of polyunsaturated fatty acid(like Omega-6) found in seed oils(canola, soybean, sunflower, etc) are very bad. Hopefully we can get more research into this.
Here’s a good round up: https://www.the-nutrivore.com/post/a-comprehensive-rebuttal-...
Oils with high content of linoleic acid (omega-6), like cold-pressed sunflower oil (which is also very rich in vitamin E) are very healthy in smaller quantities, e.g. 15 to 20 milliliter per day, but they can become harmful in too large quantities, e.g. more than 50 milliliter per day.
For instance, a combination of 50 milliliter per day of EV olive oil with 20 milliliter per day of cold-pressed sunflower oil gives a fatty acid profile that is close to optimal, according to the current knowledge.
Eating only olive oil would require a much greater quantity of oil for providing enough linoleic acid and vitamin E, which would provide too many calories for a sedentary lifestyle.
Eating only sunflower oil in an amount enough to provide an adequate fraction of the daily calories would provide too much linoleic acid.
So only a mixture can satisfy all criteria.
With saturated fats, the effects are similar, in smaller quantities they are healthy, but in large quantities they can be harmful. Olive oil, avocado oil and various kinds of nuts, e.g. almonds, hazelnuts, cashew, pistachio and a few others have a good balance between oleic acid and saturated fats.
Anyone on here have advice on this? I eat primarily vegan and run for at least an hour a day (70-90km/wk), have a resting heart rate in the low 40s, have good (middle of healthy range) cholesterol, blood glucose, and A1C, and yet my blood pressure is persistently in the 130-140 over 70 range. I can’t figure out how to get the top number down and my doctor just sort of shrugs that it’s nothing to worry about but I suspect this is less about the science (which seems to support even lower than 120/80 is healthier) and more due to the baseline blood pressures he sees have been increasing over time due to obesity, inactivity, poor diets, etc.
Anyone in a similar boat who has managed to achieve improvements?
I've also anecdotally found that supplementing magnesium glycinate seemed to help.
Perhaps consider getting some thyroid blood tests? (T3/T4 free, TSH) Mine was elevated which contributed to higher blood pressure.
Also since you're vegan, perhaps check for vitamin, mineral, and nutritional deficiencies.
[1] https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/early/2023/07/02/bjsports-2022-...
You can squeeze a few more points of BP by losing weight if you aren't already bottomed out. While it was the last intervention I tried, going from 20-25% to 15% body fat dropped my systolic 10pts consistently. When I go back to 20% BF, I'm back up 10pts of systolic. It's very sensitive.
The first reason I went plant-based was to optimize my cholesterol since it felt like the only lever I could pull since I'm already jacked and thin. If I'm going to hover around 125/70, I figure I might as well have optimal cholesterol, and I definitely was able to really shrink my LDL (ApoB).
I realized I'm sensitive to sodium. I've mostly replaced sodium salt with potassium salt. But I also noticed that caffeine can add 10 points to the top BP number even a day later. My best BP numbers have been when I've avoided caffeine and sodium for 48 hours.
I've considered experimenting with BP meds but never was motivated enough to pull the trigger.
For body fat, are you doing Dexa scans or how do you measure? My bathroom scale spits out numbers but I doubt they are trustworthy.
As hard as it was I finally ditched caffeine which instantly dropped my systolic down to the 110-115 range. Also feel much better overall. I wasn't even consuming an egregious amount either, always limiting myself to a max of 400mg, typically in the range of 250mg a day.
Unfortunately, I don't see a path to eat, meditate or exercise out of it if you in the good shape already. But controlling sodium intake can help to offset some numbers. To control it, I take medications and must continue taking them permanently.
I strongly believe everyone needs to lift weights. For me it helps with stress. It's a great way to funnel all the days work BS out of your body.
I feel super energized and at the top of the world, even after a quick 20 minute session.
As people get older and they lose muscle/bone density they have a habit of falling down and breaking things, so it's never to late to start. That's my main long term concern.
My back prevents me from lifting weights again. But I'm happy for those who can and do it.
Admittedly, I am inconsistent in high intensity exercise. So in addition to improving that, I’d like to try the wall squats and planks in the recent articles others have mentioned.
My doctor has repeatedly had to remind me that there’s no shame or loss in having to take medication to control it, as long as I’m doing my best with all the other stuff. A low dose of atenolol sets me right (although I don’t like that it limits your heart rate). I’m currently trying lisinopril, doesn’t seem to work as well. I would still prefer to be off BP meds and I hope those other improvements will work, but using meds is better than letting high blood pressure run uncontrolled.
- lower stress
- DASH diet with low carbs in evenings
- 1,5 grams Omega3 from seaweed oil per day
- lower salt intake even more
I had that, turned out to be an adenoma on my adrenal gland that was flooding me with aldosterone. That’s a hormone That controls your k/na balance - which controls your bp.
The mechanism that causes this is the spike protein (this is well studied now), and applies - perhaps not equally - to COVID infection and COVID immunization
Note that this is in complete opposition to the original claims during the vaccine campaign that the vaccine stayed local in the arm.
But is it plausible for young healthy athletes who exercise, sleep, eat well, and generally take care of themselves?
Asking opinion for a friend.
Semaglutide, metformin, and gastric bypasses help as bandaids to the problem of a shift in the corporate food supply chain but aren't panaceas. Olestra was a flop. And nothing can change that excess calories makes for an easy life of a cancer cell. (I suspect we evolved to depend on the cellular stresses of periodic famine and caloric restriction to kill cancer cells much like the way some chemotherapy protocols halt cell division.)
Within 20-40 years, food will gradually become unaffordable and calories scarce as crops fail worldwide and turns to desert. I suspect many people will become farmers and do so indoors, with limited vertical farming tech.
The final destination: the big bone'd will likely be the last still standing if they're in otherwise good health. This is inevitable without major geoengineering now.
> Perhaps the most alarming trend is that, despite declines among older adults, the proportion of heart attacks among younger adults is increasing across the globe—which many doctors who spoke to National Geographic consider a public health emergency. (Young adults are loosely defined as those between 20 to 50 years old.)
COVID is much more than an "insult to injury". There are more and more studies published every year regarding the cardiovascular complications associated with it in young adults. Speaking from experience of "long hauling" for 2+ years and likely having a mild case of myocarditis from an acute infection, I live most waking days with uncomfortable chest pressure and anxiety-inducing heart palpitations. Not very normal for a 31-year old man who eats well, exercises regularly, doesn't smoke/drink, and manages stress more than most. You can follow the essential 8 all you want, but COVID has serious implications here.
No shock smart phones and generally accessible computers came with the dawn of the millennium and that's when things started to get bad.
Contrast to now: You're bored? Welp just sit right here on your ass and there is a literally bottomless bucket of entertainment that frankly is a lot more immediately satisfying than most of the stuff outside your house. And if you dare venture outside your house? Make sure you bring your parents because, increasingly often in the US, they can get arrested for child endangerment.
The actual cause, is of course, the phone.
I remember sweating, so I guess it was good. Anything like that anymore?
There's ways to introduce exercise even if you have to drive.
At the grocery store, I see drivers drop people right at the entrance. How about go to the furthest parking spot and walk 5 mins.
Take steps wherever you see them, usually near escalator or elevator.
Take a train to work? Get off a stop before and walk to the next station. Do it in reverse on the way home.
Lots of opportunity to be creative.
Where I grew up in Arizona (not rural at all), there was literally nowhere to go within a 15min walk.
So people don't walk their dogs? You don't always have to have a destination.
Parking the furthest from the grocery entrance is surely better than parking right next to entrance?
A public health solution that has "Step 1: Assume people have the time, energy, and discipline to introduce exercise into their daily lives" is not going to work. It really is that simple - that's not how any healthy society works.
FWIW I do think you're sharing good advice and it would solve a lot of problems if people listened to it, but the reality is this advice has been around forever. It doesn't actually make a dent where people need it most: default sedentary, car-ridden, non-health conscious parts of the country.
I'm struggling to respond to this, probably because you might be right. The cynical view of this, is that you can't help people that don't want to help themselves. i.e. Horse-water, leading.
The capitalistic meat grinder will get as much money from them as possible.
Inevitably, they will get sick, pay for outrageous priced miracle drugs (like Ozempic) or for other aliments that could be preventable and eventually die.
Sigh.
Go take a walk near any elementary/middle school in America and tell me you're shocked that we're seeing increased rates of heart disease among young people. The kids are totally screwed. They're abused by a society that feeds them garbage, keeps them sitting all day long, and makes it impossible for them to walk to a friend's house and play in the street.
By and large, the issue seems to be confined to the south and cornfed middle states who have an absolute explosion of childhood obesity. And it seems to have some association with some combination of factors of money, weather, and urbanism, but I don't know how/why.
it's not "better" imo, but i sure feel less sated after a plate of nyc fries vs central jersey fries
[1] https://www.mcdonalds.com/us/en-us/product/small-french-frie...
Of course what local restaurants use will vary wildly. Some will use high quality oil and some will use the cheapest food-grade oil they can find that has managed to get FDA/USDA approval (not sure which agency supervises that).
Own your shitty lifestyle. I make poor health choices all the time. It's bad for me and it makes me feel bad about myself. But it's on me. Nobody forced me. I acknowledge and own the decisions.
Using a lack of a "walkable city" as an excuse is pathetic. You can exercise in a tiny room if needed. You can drive to a gym. Or just to a park. Or to a national park. At work you can take the stairs. I live in a country 15 times denser than the US so don't tell me you don't have space to move around.
What would be your next excuse if you would have a walkable city? Obesity is OK because Twitter said so?
There's no excuse for your crap diet and inactive lifestyle. Is it impossibly hard to change? Yes, I totally feel that. But start by owning it.
It used to be that we managed these variables quite well until middle age. Now, we flout them at an early age, setting the course for early heart attacks.
Very similar possibilites/outcomes are also observed in lungs when people quit smoking, and in the liver when people change their lifestyle or stop drinking.
The human body is incredible
The calcium scan (towards the bottom) would show the extent of calcification, which is a sign of advanced atherosclerosis
Glad they talk about arythmia. This slowly killed my endurance and sleep training (I wanted to be a skipper) and it was too late to do anything about it. Still got the memo in time to change course without trouble, but young people should always get their heart checked.
Still have no idea why I developed arythmia though.
But truly, I had to get a physical check to get my sport license (it's mandatory and free in my country), and I had a new doctor who really checked me, told me about it and to stop intensive efforts, weird sleep patterns and keep doing endurance sport. Sadly I forgot about the last part after a while.
No activity = higher risk // Moderate activity = lowest risk // Extreme activity = higher risk that increases with # of training hours
There's a few mechanisms: cardiac remodeling due to pressure and load, fibrosis, and vagal tone
This happened to me after years of 60-100 mile weeks combined with competitive weightlifting and rock climbing. Symptoms showed up, I got diagnosed, then received an ablation which solved the issue. I'm back to a high level but don't push it like I used to. Was probably doing >1500 training hours/year. Now I'm closer to 800-1000/year
I wouldn’t rule out that a lot of people around might have some of the Long Covid symptoms like the heart issues without the severity of my wife, so they are not really sick but still suffer related problems
I wish, measuring all the health parameters would have been dirt cheap and simple. Why do I even need a doctor's certificate to get my blood tested at Labcorp ? It is really all beyond me.
> A study of more than 2,000 young adults admitted for heart attack between 2000 and 2016 in two U.S. hospitals found that 1 in 5 were 40 years old or younger—and that the proportion of this group has been increasing by 2 percent each year for the last decade.
But anyway, yes COVID itself is also a potential culprit and yeah, the vaccines also should be monitored closely. In fact both are analyzed every day for this type of signal. Please publish a paper if you found some (not gleaned from the vibes around popular news articles).
Of course they aren't. That data doesn't fit their narrative. As you say, they're also ignoring the fact that COVID itself is a potential culprit.
They're an antivaxxer spouting off antivax nonsense - completely ignoring the data was collected from 2000 to 2016.
How can it seemingly never be acknowledged following the pandemic that young people do, on occasion, have freak events such as cardiac arrest for reasons not related to the vaccine? There are plenty of cases that predate the vaccines. Is it also too hard to suppose that maybe heart disease doesn't necessarily discriminate based on age for people who eat like crap and never exercise?
How can it seemingly never be acknowledged that most of the data discussed in the story predate the pandemic? The trend really is not new.
People who jump on any occasion to blame a vaccine are just as blind as those who won’t understand that any action in life has risks.
See, this is what I love about the internet. It channels the best of the "ancient curses": "the curse in disguise" ... "the poisoned chalice"*. I guess, it's a sort of "Artifact of Doom", as tvtropes.org, handily accessible through the very same, renders it.
I remember "here we go again" VERY well, from the 90s. There are probably people here who remember it from the 80s and before, on the internet (of course, disregarding earlier iterations that, granted, could not provide the speed, volume, intensity, etc. of our "greatest" communications tech to date**).
The Internet is reminiscent of "The One Ring", "The Ring of Gyges"***, and also, "The Mask (of Loki)" (as characterized in "The Mask", that Jim Carrey movie from the 90s). It has that mixture of addictiveness / fascination, particularly to those who seek power / influence****. And, like each of the objects just mentioned, it amplifies (and sometimes outright twists) the internals of individuals. Even those who "should know better" give in to the dark impulses of ego / id ... in the heat of a fight.
There's a saying from far earlier days to the effect of "flamewars bring a lot of heat, but very little light". The great thing is, there's always "a new sucker", and now we have "Nation State actors", "Advanced Persistent Threats", and whole new categories of that good old-fashioned "rhetoric" (really, rhetorical "spanking the monkey") that haunts human existence, spreading like a cancer OF cancer.
... Every blessing a curse, I guess. Pretty much guaranteed that continual rolls of the dice will eventually result in "snake eyes". I'd better stop writing before things get too biblical, hahaha... hard not to think of Carlin, at least, to close: https://youtu.be/b9fmjHeRh4k
* All that kind of thing ... https://youtu.be/RR7q-qf3VSQ?t=36s
** A computer lets you make more mistakes faster than any other invention with the possible exceptions of handguns and Tequila - Mitch Ratcliffe
*** Plato, a sort of ancestor of Tolkien's version (no idea off the top of my head if it influenced his or not ... Tolkien also has been argued not to have been influenced by development of nuclear weapons per se, though nuclear weapons certainly fit the metaphor - would be "The One Ring" of "The Atomic Age", IMO / fairly clearly)
**** How often do I think the name "Wormtongue" when reading something I come across on this network of networks ... and, toady or fool, the cause matters little
Best case scenario, unknowingly publishing with bad sources taints the article, making the article itself unreliable.
Worst case scenario, knowingly publishing with bad sources taints the _publisher_, making them unreliable.
> A 2022 study published in the Journal of Medical Virology found that heart attack deaths increased by 14 percent within the first year of the pandemic.
So if I were to blame the 14% increase on the vaccine instead, sources predating the pandemic wouldn't matter.
To the data: Not sure what period the study is about. Though it's well known, that MRNA vaccines cause heart related problems. Whether the rise in excess death of young people is caused by "long covid"-effects, and/or by the vaccine, is still an open question I guess. But it's a fact, that the pandemic has a long-term impact on peoples health and excess death: https://www.euromomo.eu/graphs-and-maps
“mRNA-1273 booster vaccination-associated elevation of markers of myocardial injury occurred in about one out of 35 persons (2.8%)"
Seems relevant.
“mRNA-1273 booster vaccination-associated elevation of markers of myocardial injury occurred in about one out of 35 persons (2.8%)"
...and, from the study you link to:
> mRNA-1273 vaccine-associated myocardial injury was more common than previously thought, being mild and transient, and more frequent in women versus men.
"Mild and transient" does not describe a heart attack.
Obviously any form of heart damage increases the chances of heart attacks in the future. The heart is extremely poor at repairing itself.