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Little did I know that there are other factors beside bad cholesterol and
bad fat that contribute to sudden cardiac death for many otherwise healthy
athletes and young people. Below article is an eye opener for me.
Check out
The Miracle of Magnesium
of Carolyn Dean,
Battling the MSG Myth
by Debby Anglesey
and
Sweet Deception: Why Splenda, NutraSweet, and the FDA May Be Hazardous to Your Health
By Joseph Mercola
Source :
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/4/prwebxml225071.php
Neurosurgeon Russell Blaylock, M.D. explains the relationship between
sudden cardiac death, especially in athletes, and excitotoxic damage
produced by food additives and artificial sweeteners.
(PRWEB) April 15, 2005 -- Dr.
Russell Blaylock, an author and neurosurgeon, explains the relationship
between sudden cardiac death, especially in athletes, and excitotoxic
damage caused by food additives and artificial sweeteners.
-- By Russell L. Blaylock, M.D. --
Over 460,000 people anually die of a disorder called sudden cardiac death,
according to CDC statistics. This condition strikes otherwise healthy
people who have experienced no obvious symptoms of heart disease prior to
their abrupt deaths.
An alarming number young athletes are included in these deaths, in high
schools and colleges as well as among professional athletes. While in some
of these individuals cardiologists found evidence of coronary disease and
scars from earlier silent heart attacks, there is one mechanism that's
getting no attention at all: the excitotoxin damage caused by food
additives and the artificial sweetener aspartame. This is despite growing
evidence that the excitotoxic mechanism plays a major role in cardiac
disease.
Previously, it was thought that excitotoxic food additives, such as
monosodium glutamate and aspartic acid in aspartame, cause their damage in
the cardiovascular centers in the brain stem and/or by over-stimulating
sympathetic centers in the hypothalamus of the brain. Both mechanisms have
resulted in sudden cardiac death in experimental animals.
A particularly deadly combination occurs in young athletes: Low magnesium
intake, high calcium intake, low intake of
omega-3 fatty acids and excitotoxins in food additives. Strenuous exercise, especially in extreme
heat, depletes the body's magnesium stores, as does consumption of
carbonated drinks and taking calcium supplements. Also adrenalin
secretion, increased during exercise, intensifies heart muscle
irritability and further loss of magnesium as well. When calcium
supplements are taken in the face of an existing magnesium deficiency,
both magnesium and calcium are driven into the bones, producing a sudden
magnesium-depletion crisis.
Low magnesium produces seizures and causes sudden cardiac arrest. In a
classic experiment it was found that stressing magnesium-deficient animals
resulted in an almost 100% mortality from sudden cardiac arrest. Adding
magnesium reduced mortality dramatically. A considerable body of evidence
has shown that low omega-3 fat intake significantly increases the risk and
severity of cardiac arrhythmias, the main cause of sudden cardiac death.
A number of studies have shown that Americans are significantly deficient
in these protective fats. Finally, recent research has shown that the
brain is not the only tissue having glutamate receptors. Numerous
glutamate receptors have been found both within the heart's electrical
conduction system and the heart muscle itself.
When an excess of food-borne excitotoxins, such as MSG, hydrolyzed protein
soy protein isolate and concentrate, natural flavoring, sodium caseinate
and aspartate from aspartame, are consumed, these glutamate receptors are
over-stimulated, producing cardiac arrhythmias. When magnesium stores are
low, as we see in athletes, the glutamate receptors are so sensitive that
even low levels of these excitotoxins can result in cardiac arrhythmias
and death.
This is especially so when combined with the other factors mentioned.
Under such condition, free radicals and lipid eroxidation products build
up within the muscle cells, leading to the same outcome.
High consumption of aspartame adds an additional cardiac muscle toxin:
methanol. A number of studies have shown that consuming aspartame and MSG
(and similar excitotoxins) together greatly magnifies the toxicity.
Young people live on junk foods, most of which contain a number of
excitotoxic additives. Several studies have shown that the levels consumed
by our youth equal those that cause damage in experimental animals. Humans
are 5X more sensitive to these toxins than any animal.
The same factors operate in older individuals. Most people over age 50
years are depleted of magnesium, have low omega-3 fat intakes, are under
stress and take a number of medications which compromise nutrition,
especially magnesium levels. Because seniors are more likely to have
coronary artery disease plus other medical conditions, their risk of
sudden cardiac death is even higher.
Both athletes and those over age 45 should take magnesium supplements,
antioxidants, omega-3 oils, eat more vegetables and avoid foods and
artificial sweeteners containing excitotoxins such as aspartame and MSG.
This accomplishes a lot more than attempting to rescue a victim with an
external defibrillator after the fact.
Dr. Blaylock's web site is
www.russellblaylockmd.com. He is author of "Excitotoxins: The Taste
That Kills and Health & Nutrition Secrets to Save Your Life." He can be
seen in the movie on aspartame, "Sweet Misery: A Poisoned World."
Copies are available from e-mail protected from spam bots.
Case histories now being taken on aspartame and brain tumors from New
York, New Jersey, Illinois and Mississippi in the last three years. Send
to e-mail protected from spam bots
Also, The FDA blamed deaths on ephedra and removed it from the market. The
FDA records on ephedra were reviewed by the renowned neuroscientist Dr.
John Olney who founded the field of neuroscience called excitotoxicity and
tried to prevent the approval of aspartame and said ephedra is safe.
The Ephedra story is on
http://www.wnho.net
In the movie, "Sweet Misery," Diane Fleming is interviewed from prison.
Her husband, an aspartame addict, who played basketball several times a
week, died and she was charged with his death. Several experts have
written affidavits that Charles Fleming died from aspartame.
Contact:
Dr. Betty Martini
Mission Possible Intl
9270 River Club Parkway, Duluth, Georgia 30097
770 242-2599
http://www.dorway.com
Aspartame Toxicity Center:
http://www.holisticmed.com/aspartame
Aspartame Information List:
http://www.wnho.net
