We are in the midst of an epidemic of obesity, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease, not to mention cancer and immune associated diseases. What can we do about this tragedy? Let's cover some normal information.
Fossil remains from our hunter-gatherer ancestors show that they were lean, had strong dense bones, and no tooth decay. Evidence from cave drawings and coprolites shows that they ate a diet consisting mainly of fruit, nuts, and wild vegetables, and some meat. This diet is about the same as that of today's hunter-gatherer tribes.
With the coming of agriculture, mankind's diet shifted to a grain-based diet. Our hunter-gatherer ancestors probably ate some grain, having discovered that wheat and rye plants which grew wild, could yield a grain, which, when cooked, could be eaten. The agricultural revolution made it potential for grains to be the staple of the diet.
People began getting most of their calories and nutrients from grain about 10,000 years ago. Some 500 generations have lived since then. Geneticists say that it takes in the middle of 1,000 and 10,000 generations for any essential evolutionary change.
People whose diets consisted mainly of grains, had problems with their teeth, and likely had other condition problems as well. The old Egyptians are a excellent example of this. They subsisted mostly on grains. Mummies show tooth decay that is not found among hunter-gatherer tribes.
Grains are not unhealthy. In fact some, such as wheat or oats, are very nutritious, providing high capability protein, along with many vitamins, minerals, and fiber. But they are a qoute when they come to be the dominant food, at the cost of leafy vegetables and fruit. The real problem, however, comes when they are refined.
In the 1890s machines were invented that strip all the fiber and nourishment from grain, and passage sugar from cane, beets, or grain. The empty calorie was invented.
Empty calories deplete the body of nutrition. For every carbohydrate calorie the body burns, it needs a inevitable number of nutrients. Chromium is needed to allow insulin to do its job, and inevitable B vitamins are needed to carry out the chemical reactions of metabolizing every gram of carbohydrate. Calcium is needed for inevitable metabolic reactions. These nutrients and many others are stripped from wheat to make white flour, sometimes simply called wheat flour, as opposed to whole wheat flour. Sugar is extracted from corn, beets, or cane and is added to most of our food and drinks, sometimes in large quantities. Consumption of refined sugar causes our bodies to rob nutrients from organs and bones in order to get the nutrients essential for the assimilation and metabolizing of sugar.
Two hundred years ago the median American ate 10 or 12 pounds of sugar a year. The only sugar that most citizen consumed was what was simply gift in food. By 1928 sugar consumption was about 10 times what it was in 1828. In 1996 the median American consumed 152 pounds of sugar!
When scientists began studying the plaques in the arteries of citizen who died of heart diseases, they found fat and cholesterol deposits in these plaques and reasoned that it's the fat and cholesterol in the diet that causes the problem. This simplistic reasoning was wrong and has been proven wrong by many clinical studies and statistical analyses. Heart assault rates do not correlate with the number of fat and cholesterol consumed in a given population. But they do correlate strongly with the number of refined carbohydrate and hydrogenated oil consumed. Type 2 diabetes also correlates strongly with refined carbohydrate consumption in a population. From the mid 60s to the mid 90s, the incidence of type 2 diabetes increased six-fold. A small apparent increase may be due to good reporting of the disease or citizen being more aware of it, but this is a real epidemic and it is staggering! It is startling for the incidence of a non-infectious disease to increase by a factor of six in forty years! This much turn in only one or two generations can't perhaps be hereditary in nature.
In old centuries citizen ate large amounts of butter and lard, beef, pork and lots of eggs. Despite the fact that large numbers of citizen lived into their sixties and beyond, heart attacks were very rare. The first heart assault in healing literature was described in a healing journal in 1912. Prior to the twentieth century heart attacks were so rare most doctors could institution a whole lifetime without finding a heart assault victim.
The French eat a diet that is high in fat yet they suffer a heart disease rate 60% lower than Americans. Eskimos, the Masai in Africa, and the Icelanders, all ate a diet very high in fat but heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes were unknown to them until typical American diet was introduced to them. Then they began to suffer from these diseases at the same rate that we do. Yugoslavia and the Netherlands contribute similar examples.
The two scholar hormones of metabolism are insulin and glucagon. These two hormones work in opposition to each other. Most citizen think only of blood sugar when they think of insulin, but it has many functions.
Functions of insulin:
1. Carries glucose into all cells (except red blood cells and cells that make up the lens of the eye)
2. Is essential in the conversion of protein and sugar into fat
3. Causes dietary fat to be stored in the fat cells
4. Puts metabolism into fat storage mode
5. Increases production of cholesterol
6. Causes the kidneys to maintain water, potassium, and sodium
7. Stimulates the increase of the cells that line the inside of arteries, thus decreasing the inside diameter of the arteries.
8. Decreases the elasticity of the arteries
9. Converts glucose into glycogen (a form of carbohydrate that is stored in the liver and muscle tissues)
10. Carries amino acids into the cells
Functions of glucagon:
1. Stimulates the conversion of glycogen into glucose and releases it into the bloodstream
2. Converts protein and fat into glucose
3. Releases fat from fat cells to be burned for energy
4. Puts metabolism into the fat burning mode
5. Reduces production of cholesterol
6. Causes the kidneys to publish water, potassium, and sodium
7. Reduces increase of the cells that line the inside of the arteries
8. Increases the elasticity of the arteriesv
9. Breaks down glycogen into glucose to be used for energy
10. Carries amino acids out of the cells
Without insulin the body could not survive long, because glucose wouldn't be able to get into the cells. Without it, the body could not store fat for use when food is scarce. In its absence, a person could eat to their heart's content and never gain weight. Our physiology has evolved into a involved system designed to store fat in times when food is plentiful and burn it when times are lean and food is hard to find.
When you eat a meal, the pancreas secretes insulin, which then shuttles the glucose (also amino acids, sodium, and potassium) into your cells. If there is an excess of glucose in the blood, some of it is stored as glycogen, and some is converted to fat and stored in the fat cells. If you don't eat for some hours your blood sugar begins to fall. Your brain recognizes this and stimulates the pancreas to publish glucagon, which stimulates the breakdown of glycogen that is stored in the liver and muscles. Glucagon enables us to burn our market of fat and glycogen when we fast. Glycogen breaks down into glucose, thus holding blood sugar from dropping any further. If you continue to fast, your reserves of glycogen will run out in a day or two. When it runs out, glucagon stimulates the publish of fat from the fat cells and breaks down the fat into chemicals known as ketones. Your body can burn ketones for power until you run out of fat.
The body is not adequate to deal with large amounts of sugar suddenly entering the bloodstream. This will cause the pancreas to overreact and furnish too much insulin. After an preliminary rise in blood sugar and follow burst of energy, the blood sugar will fall too low. If you don't consume any more carbohydrate, your pancreas will secrete glucagon. This hormone will cause the blood sugar to moderately rise to normal levels by breaking down glycogen in the liver into glucose and releasing it into the bloodstream. Most citizen will consume more sugar-laden food or drink before their blood sugar returns to normal and cause someone else surge of insulin and repeat the cycle. Because of constantly high levels of insulin and low levels of glucagon, your Ldl cholesterol (the so-called bad kind, and the only kind the liver makes) will go up. Your blood pressure will go up. Your body will be in a fat-storage mode.
When you were a child and you ate something sweet, your pancreas needed to secrete only a tiny number of insulin in response to the rise in blood sugar. After years of intriguing refined carbohydrate, the insulin receptors on your cells come to be less sensitive to insulin and your pancreas needed to secrete larger amounts to do the same job. This is called insulin resistance. someone else cause of insulin resistance is chromium deficiency. Refined carbohydrate causes a scantness in chromium as well as other trace minerals. Chromium is a essential component of the insulin receptors on the cell wall.
Lack of exercise also causes insulin resistance. And no doubt, some citizen have a genetic predisposition for insulin resistance, which is all the more suspect for them to be right how they eat and to make sure they get adequate exercise. With the pancreas having to furnish excessive amounts of insulin just to regulate blood sugar, you end up with all of the problems of hyperinsulinism. It is a matter of genetics as to which qoute will hit you first, obesity, hypoglycemia, high blood pressure, or diabetes, etc, but sooner or later one or more of these problems will arise if you keep intriguing refined carbohydrate. The body overproduces insulin in response to a rapidly rising blood sugar level; consequently blood sugar drops dramatically in a incorporate of hours. Many citizen who pass a glucose tolerance test have severe insulin resistance. They passed the test because their blood sugar checked out normal a incorporate hours after given a sugar solution, but their pancreas had to secrete abnormally large amounts of insulin to deal with a small bit of sugar.
Eventually a person gets to the point where the pancreas is producing as much insulin as it perhaps can, but the cells in the body are so defiant to it that even a massive number of insulin can't bring blood sugar down. This person will fail the glucose tolerance test and be diagnosed with diabetes. Doctors will make matters worse if they prescribe insulin injections at this point in time, although sometimes drugs are given to make the body's cells more sensitive to insulin. A turn of diet and an exercise program will normally bring insulin sensitivity up to accepted levels.
Type 2 diabetes should not be confused with type 1 diabetes. They are two dissimilar diseases. Type 1 diabetes is sometimes called adolescent onset diabetes, because it normally strikes a person when they are very young. It occurs when a virus or toxin (or even the child's own immune system) destroys the insulin producing cells in the pancreas. Type 2, on the other hand, normally takes two or three decades of high consumption of refined carbohydrates before it becomes apparent. Type 2 diabetes can turn into type 1 if left unchecked because the insulin-producing cells (Beta cells) can come to be weakened and rendered nonfunctional by the continued over stimulation caused by a diet high in refined carbohydrate. This is known as beta cell burnout. When this occurs, the follow is type 1 diabetes. With no insulin, blood sugar rises to dangerous levels and the hormone glucagon takes over. Without any insulin to oppose its actions, glucagon begins to waste away the body. The individual loses weight no matter how much they eat. They urinate excessively and are thirsty all the time. Cholesterol falls to dangerously low levels. At this point the individual has no choice but to inject insulin for the rest of their life.
Some will be genetically more prone to inevitable effects of hyperinsulinism than others. For instance, in some individuals obesity may be the first sign of hyperinsulinism. For others high blood pressure or high Ldl cholesterol levels may be the first sign. In some individuals hypoglycemia will be the first symptom. But no matter what your genetic makeup, you can't leave all of the effects of hyperinsulinism if it remains unchecked. You can't turn your genes but you can turn your diet. And you can get off the couch and exercise a little.
Don't be afraid to eat fat. The only types of fat that are unhealthy are altered or refined oil and hydrogenated oil. A scantness of dietary fat is a dangerous condition and will kill you if prolonged. No properly done study has ever shown a convincing link in the middle of high fat consumption and heart disease. Fat is vital to the condition of nerves, skin, the immune system, and just about all things else in your body. And fat is the only one of the three macronutrients (carbohydrate, fat, and protein) that does not stimulate the production of insulin when consumed. It makes you feel full, so you'll eat less. Fat, like fiber, slows the digestion of protein and carbohydrate, thus blunting the rise of serum glucose that results from eating a meal. This is good because the insulin response is much slower and more even, and the person goes longer without feeling hungry again.
You should scrupulously avoid hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils they do not exist in nature, except in small trace quantities in some meats. Trans fats (hydrogenated oils) have the unique property of lowering good cholesterol and raising the so-called bad cholesterol at the same time. They raise triglyceride levels. They also have an adverse work on on the body's inflammatory system by disrupting the levels of inevitable substances in the body called eicosanoids. They suppress inevitable anti-inflammatory eicosanoids, and boost the level of inflammatory eicosanoids. This causes inflammation of the interior arterial wall. They also gum up the cell wall, adversely affecting cell receptors, including the insulin receptors. By reducing the efficiency of the insulin receptors they cause a person to come to be insulin resistant. As America's consumption of saturated fat fell dramatically throughout the twentieth century, our consumption of trans-fats, refined oils and refined carbohydrates skyrocketed. The incidences of heart disease, stroke, and diabetes went through the roof.
The communal has been led to believe that the refined, very processed oils that line the shelves of the grocery store are healthy. Those bottles of golden colored oils have labels which tell you they are cholesterol-free or polyunsaturated. The truth is, those oils are very unhealthy. Do you think that the corn oil in the grocery store bears any resemblance at all to the oil that is inside a kernel of corn?
The qoute begins with the formula which is used to passage the oil from its source. The favorite formula of the business is to use ultimate heat to passage the oil. The high temperatures used destroy most of the salutary components of the oil, including most of the vitamins. The molecular buildings of the oil is altered. The oils are refined after extraction. The thick, heavy components are sold to clubs that use vegetable oil as the base for inevitable lubricants or other market products. The light-colored oil that remains is an unhealthy and unnatural product that is devoid of nutrition.
Expeller-pressed oil is good than heat-extracted oil, but the high pressure used in the expeller process creates heat. Typically the climatic characteristic of the oil is raised to temperatures of 180 to 200 degrees Fahrenheit. Sometimes the nuts or seeds are heated to 250 F before being placed in the expeller, because the high climatic characteristic makes the expeller process more efficient.
Many oils are extracted by using a solvent, normally hexane. The qoute with this is the solvent is impossible to fully remove from the oil after it is extracted.
When mechanical pressing is done without heating the source of oil first, it is called cold-pressed extraction. This formula alters the oil less than any other form of extraction. Unfortunately, sesame seeds and olives are the only sources that will yield a large number of oil from this process.
High serum cholesterol levels, in singular high levels of Ldl cholesterol, have long been blamed for causing arteriosclerosis and heart disease, though there has never been any solid evidence to maintain this hypothesis. The truth is, the only kind of cholesterol that is damaging to the arteries is oxidized cholesterol. While it is true that Ldl oxidizes easier than Hdl, the level of oxidized cholesterol in the blood depends much more on the number of antioxidant in the diet than on Ldl cholesterol levels. Ldl cholesterol is the only kind that your body can make and it is vital to life.
Cholesterol is a vital substance in the body. It is a major component of the myelin sheath which surrounds nerve cells. This myelin sheath insulates nerves like the insulation on wires. To put it in simplistic terms, this is what keeps your nerves from "short-circuiting." Cholesterol is needed by the body to create many hormones, including estrogen and testosterone. It is needed by the liver to make bile, which is essential for the absorption of fats. Cholesterol under the skin is transformed into vitamin D by ultraviolet light penetrating the skin. It is an important component of the cell wall of all cells. Most of the cells in your body are capable of manufacture their own cholesterol and will do so if the serum level of cholesterol falls too low.
The cholesterol that is found in arterial plaques is part of the healing process. It is a component of the scab that forms on a wound. Its presence in arterial plaque is an indication that the inner lining of the artery is damaged and in need of healing.
If your cholesterol is below 180, you're at a high risk for stroke. Levels of 200 or even a small higher, are no cause for concern. If your ratio of Ldl to Hdl is too high, it is most likely because you are eating too much, or eating the wrong kinds of food. Smoking raises the level of Ldl cholesterol because it is produced in response to the arterial damage caused by the chemicals in cigarette smoke. If your cholesterol is very high, say, above 300, it should be brought down by eliminating refined carbohydrate, hydrogenated and refined oils, and if you smoke, you should quit. High cholesterol is a symptom of artery disease, not a cause of it. Poisoning your liver with cholesterol-lowering drugs is not the answer.
Harvard researchers studied a community in Framingham Massachusetts for fifty years. This is the most accepted and thought about done study on diet thus far. They proved that heart disease correlates with high cholesterol levels and obesity. They showed that obesity and cholesterol levels were bottom in those who ate the most fat and cholesterol. They also showed that those who ate the most saturated fat had 76% less incidence of ischemic strokes. You won't hear much about this study because it proved what the food and drug industries don't want you to know.
Logic would dictate that if cholesterol is merely passively deposited in arteries, then it would be deposited in veins as well. Why are the coronary arteries the ones that seem most affected by cholesterol deposits? They are constantly flexing, and this operation would undoubtedly impede any substance from collecting on their inner walls. The constant flexing of the coronary arteries causes tiny tears in the membrane if the artery is not healthy. If a person is lacking in inevitable nutrients, such as vitamin C, his arteries cannot be healthy. If a person eats too much protein, particularly animal protein, then the level of homocysteine in the blood will be high. Homocysteine is an amino acid that results from the breakdown proteins, particularly animal protein. It attacks the inner lining of the arteries. Vitamin B6 very effectively destroys homocysteine, but citizen who consume a lot of refined carbohydrate are deficient in B6, as well as the other B vitamins.
How much meat do we undoubtedly need? Hunter-gatherer tribes don't eat nearly as much meat as the median American, and they have strong, salutary bodies... citizen who come to be exact vegetarians live long, salutary lives as long as they stay away from processed foods.
Although some meat in the diet is probably not unhealthy, too much can cause a range of problems, especially if the meat comes from steers which are fed a diet of corn and soy. One thing the meat business doesn't want you to know is that the fat in a steer that grazes on grass and eats no grain, resembles rather intimately the fat in such cold-water fish as salmon.
As for milk, it is high in protein with all of the essential amino acids, and has lots of vitamins and minerals. In its raw, unprocessed state, milk is nutritious. The milk in the grocery market has been pasteurized to kill germs. It has been homogenized to give it a consistent texture and keep the cream from floating to the top. Pasteurization destroys all of the enzymes and most of the vitamins. It also kills off bacteria that aid in its digestion. The enzymes that are destroyed in the pasteurization process aid in the absorption of minerals such as calcium.
Homogenization causes problems too. In order to understand why homogenization is bad, you need to know a small bit of about two substances, plasmalogen and Xanthine oxidase (Xo for short). Plasmalogen is a type of phospholipid that is found in brain and spinal chord tissue, and on the inner lining of your arteries. The epithelial lining of the arteries is a protective coating on the inside of the artery. 30% of it is comprised of plasmalogen.
Xo is an enzyme that is found in the liver, where it serves many functions, one of which is to destroy used plasmalogen. Plasmalogen and Xo cannot exist in the same place for long because Xo destroys plasmalogen. The liver has inevitable security mechanisms for holding Xo from escaping into the bloodstream. Cow's milk is very high in Xo. In unhomogenized milk, the Xo is destroyed in the stomach and intestines by the digestive process. The homogenization process creates very small balls of fat called liposomes. These liposomes form a protective layer around the Xo, holding the digestive juices from contacting it. The Xo will then enter the blood stream intact and will be released from the liposomes. Plasmalogen in the inner lining of the arteries is moderately destroyed from years of intriguing homogenized milk. The body tries to fix the damaged arterial wall by attaching cholesterol to it. That is why the plaques found on the arterial wall of heart disease patients are high in cholesterol. These plaques are wrongly blamed on fat and cholesterol in the diet.
Milk is promoted as something that will build strong bones. True, milk has a lot of calcium, but milk can undoubtedly cause a net loss of calcium from the body. Ponder for a moment the fact that the Usa has the highest per capita consumption of dairy products and also has the highest per capita rate of osteoporosis. There are two reasons for this.
Milk is very high in phosphorus. Phosphorus competes with calcium for absorption. The ideal ratio of calcium to phosphorus for maximum absorption of both minerals in the human intestine is 2.3 to 1. Human milk has a calcium to phosphorus ratio of 2.3 to 1. Cow's milk has a ratio of 1.3 to 1. The high phosphorus content causes most of the calcium to pass through the digestive tract without being absorbed. Raw milk has an enzyme that enhances calcium absorption, and thus will lessen this qoute to some extent, but this enzyme is destroyed in the pasteurization process.
Incidentally, red meat, poultry, corn, and potatoes are all high in phosphorus. These foods can greatly sell out calcium absorption. The worst offender of all is of course, the soft drink, or soda. Sodas are very high in phosphorus, and if drunk with a meal, will ensure that small or no calcium will be absorbed from that meal.
Milk is a very concentrated source of protein and too much protein causes loss of calcium. When too much protein is consumed in a meal, much of the excess amino acids from the protein are turned into uric acid (urea), though some will be turned into fat and stored in the body's fat stores. The kidneys must attach calcium to the uric acid in order to deal with it. The parathyroid glands detect falling levels of serum calcium and excrete a hormone that causes calcium to leech from the bones into the blood. Maintaining a inevitable level of calcium in the bloodstream is essential and the body will take calcium from the bones to keep the blood level of calcium constant. This can cause a essential loss of calcium from the bones over time.
Drug clubs and food clubs don't want you to know the real cause of high blood pressure or high cholesterol. They would lose a lot of money if adequate citizen knew how easy it is to control these problems by lowering consumption refined carbohydrate and trans-fats. The Food business makes far more money on processed, refined grain-based food than on meats and vegetables. Most doctors aren't acting dishonestly when they prescribe these drugs. They only know what they are taught in healing school, and those schools are given huge grants by drug and food companies, consequently they have a big work on on what is taught
Most citizen don't want to take the time to educate themselves about nourishment and are content to get their nutritional data from the news media. They hear or read about the most recent study which provides evidence for this or that notion, but never see the big picture. Nor do most citizen have a basic knowledge of nourishment or physiology. An ignorant communal is just what the food and drug industries want. They do not need to engage in some sort of conspiracy. They merely rely on the reasoning laziness and apathy of the median person. Nonetheless, there are some examples of what can be described as a conspiracy to keep inevitable facts from the public.
Kilmer McCully discovered that a protein called homocysteine causes plaque to form in arteries. The amino acid methionine is an important constituent of protein in meat. It breaks down into homocysteine in the bloodstream. Vitamin B6 converts it back to methionine. McCully discovered that a B6 scantness caused by intriguing refined carbohydrates elevates homocysteine levels dramatically. After publishing an record about this in 1977 he lost his grant support. He lost his positions at Harvard and Massachusetts normal Hospital. He was a victim of the food industry. They did all things they could to keep his findings from being made known to the public. Now his discovery is acknowledged as being important, but it's not well known to the public.
People have eaten diets high in fat and cholesterol since time immemorial. If you factor out those who died of infectious disease before the coming of vaccines and antibiotics, the life expectancy a incorporate of a hundred years ago was virtually the same as today. But citizen were not having heart attacks and strokes. Obese citizen were a small minority.
Prior to our modern diet, heart disease and type 2 diabetes were virtually unknown. Refined carbohydrate doesn't even exist in nature, and is probably responsible for more death than cigarettes. There is nothing wrong with eating grains, as long as you eat whole grains, and eat abundance of vegetables and some fruit. Eat fruit, but avoid fruit juice because the discharge of juice creates a concentration of sugar. Eat abundance of green, leafy vegetables. Eat some meat if you like, but don't go overboard. Don't be afraid of eggs. They are very nutritious. Eat all types of nuts, especially raw. Peanuts, technically a legume, are very good for you. They are a loaded with protein and vitamins, and high in salutary fat. White potatoes are fine if eaten in small quantities and all the time with high-fiber vegetables. Eaten alone, potatoes will raise your blood sugar at a very fast rate and have been shown to increase the risk of type 2 diabetes if eaten often.
One other natural food to watch out for is honey. Consume it in small quantities. It does have the advantage of being an invert sugar, which is more moderately metabolized by the body than sucrose, but it is still sugar. It has a lot of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants if it is in a raw, unrefined state, but don't go overboard with it. Consume it in moderation, if at all. Be aware that most of the honey sold in market has been stripped of its vitamin and mineral content. And don't worry about salt. Sodium only raises the blood pressure if you are deficient in potassium. The main rule is, avoid all refined carbohydrate, refined oil, hydrogenated oil and partially hydrogenated oil. And get abundance of vigorous exercise.
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Besides cancer and heart diseases, stroke is the third prominent cause of death. Approximate 1/4 of all stroke victims die as a direct supervene of the stroke or it's complications. Stroke is caused by uncontrolled diet that is high in saturated and trans fats resulting in cholesterol build up in the arteries and high blood pressure. In other words, if cholesterol building up in the arteries is blocking the circulation of blood in any part of the body causing oxygen not to be delivered to the brain, resulting in some cells in the brain to die off and are unable reproduce, then we have stroke. Other strokes happen when a blood vessel in the brain ruptures causing the cells in your brain to be deprived of oxygen in your blood, they die and never come back.
I. Causes of Stroke
There are similar causes of stroke and heart diseases, but in stroke the supervene is more severe. Any delay of rescuing will supervene in death of the victim. Here are some causes of stroke:
1. Unhealthy diet
A diet high in saturated and trans fats causes bad cholesterol to build up in your blood vessels in the brain, blocking oxygen needed for the cells thus expanding the risk of stroke. Also unhealthy diet causes high blood pressure production your heart work harder to pump blood to your body in supervene of heart diseases. High blood pressure also causes the blood vessels in your brain to harden and thin, expanding the risk of stroke.
2. Smoking
Smoking not only has a devastating supervene on the condition of the smoker but also to anything that inhales its toxic fumes. Cigarettes consist of high levels of cadmium that causes the blood to clot performance of cells in supervene of blocking blood flow and damaging the blood vessels in the brain.
3. Inordinate drinking
Moderate drinking is good for your heart, but Inordinate drinking can raise levels of some fats in your blood causing cholesterol to build up in the arteries and blood vessels in the brain resulting in increase of the risk of stroke.
4. Diabetes
People with diabetes tend to institute heart disease or have strokes at an earlier age than other people. Diabetes with unhealthy diet causes high blood glucose levels that damage nerves and blood vessels, prominent to complications such as heart disease and stroke, the prominent causes of death among people with diabetes.
5. Obesity - a body mass index of 30 or higher
Study shows that even after adjusting for other stroke risk factors such as high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol, smoking, cardiac diseases, moderate alcohol consumption, and corporeal activity; obesity is still connected with a most risk of stroke in men and women.
6. Use of birth operate pills
Birth operate pills consist of estrogen and one of two other hormones, lynestrenol or norethisterone that increase the risk of blood clotting, which can lead to ischemic stroke especially in woman who smoke and who are older than 35.
There are many other causes of stroke such as heart diseases that we have discussed lengthily in the heart diseases articles.
Ii. Symptoms of Stroke
Here are some symptoms of strokes:
1. Sudden problem in standing
Sudden problem in standing is an early indication of illness of stroke as a supervene of circulation of blood that carries oxygen to suddenly deplete caused by narrowing of arteries and high blood pressure.
2. Dizziness and loss of balance
The brain coordinates data from the eyes, the inner ear, and the body's sense to maintain balance. If the cells of that part of the brain get damaged in supervene of depleted oxygen will cause dizziness and loss of balance.
3. Sudden confusion
A sudden onset of confusion means that something is potentially going wrong with the brain. Practically all conditions that work on the brain are life-threatening. It might be caused by a tumor or low levels of oxygen in the cells of the cerebral cortex in your brain that work on your potential to think with your usual speed or clarity. It might also be caused by lowered blood sugar, as is the case of diabetes.
4. Having problem speaking and understanding
Having problem speaking and insight occurs when the brain cells in the area of the broca, wernicke and angular ayrus in the left hemisphere area begin to die because they stop getting the oxygen and nutrients they need to function.
6. Sudden severe headaches
Headache is a condition of pain in the head, sometimes neck or upper back pain may also be interpreted as a headache. It ranks amongst the most common local pain complaints and may be frequent for many people but sudden severe headaches may be caused by an early indication of illness of heart disease as we mentioned in former articles, by rupturing a brain vessel or depletion of oxygen in some parts of the brain.
7. Sudden problem seeing
This may be an early indication of stroke when the oxygen in the blood supply to the part of the brain is suddenly interrupted or when a blood vessel in the brain bursts, spilling blood into cells that operate the vision area of the cerebral cortex in the brain.
Iii. The Risk Factors
1. Age
Human aging is the biological process that is unavoidable but controllable. Starting at age 40, the cells in our body begin this process causing the deterioration of some functions of our body. Most people of this age group already have some form of cholesterol building up in their arteries and high blood pressure resulting in an increased risk of stroke.
2. Heredity
People with a family history of stroke have a greater opening of stroke than those do not have such a family history.
3. Race
Because of frequent high blood pressure in African Americans, they have a significantly higher risk of stroke than their Caucasian counterparts.
4. High blood pressure
High blood pressure causes hardening and thinning of arterial walls and makes our heart work harder to pump blood throughout our body resulting in heart diseases as well as expanding the risk of stroke.
5. Smoking
Smokers may be exposed to toxic cadmium, causing high blood pressure and heart diseases as well as contributing to a higher risk of stroke.
6. Inordinate alcohol consumption
Drinking one cup of wine for women and 2 cups of wine for men might help to increase the circulation of blood as well as providing more oxygen for cells. However, Inordinate drinking not only damages the normal function of liver but also raises high blood pressure, expanding the risk of stroke.
7. Diabetes
Diabetes with unhealthy diet causes high levels of glucose in the bloodstream. Diabetics have a greater risk of stroke, because high levels of glucose damage the arterial wall as well as clotting the arteries and blood vessels.
8. Gender
Males have a 20% greater risk of stroke than females.
Iv. Types of Strokes
There are 2 types of strokes:
1. Ischemic stroke caused by a clot or other blockage within an artery prominent to the brain.
2. Hemorrhagic stroke caused by the vessel in the brain rupturing in supervene of blood leaking into the brain.
1. Ischemic stroke
This is the most common type of stroke accounting for Practically 80% of all strokes. The brain depends on its arteries to bring fresh blood from the heart and lungs. The blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the brain, and takes away carbon dioxide and cellular waste. If an artery is blocked then the brain cells may not receive enough oxygen. They then cannot make enough vigor and will ultimately stop working.
There are 2 types of Ischemic stroke
a)Thrombotic stroke.
If blood clots from the inside of the arteries of the brain, we have thrombic stroke.
Study shows that this type of stroke is responsible for Practically 50% of all strokes. The most common problem is narrowing off the arteries in the neck or head. Thrombotic stroke are also sometimes referred to as large-artery strokes. The process prominent to thrombotic stroke is complex and occurs over time. Thrombotic stroke might be caused by the arterial walls slowly thickening and hardening as a supervene of arteries being injured. Such injures signal the immune law to publish white blood cells to the site causing stroke. Thrombotic stroke also occurs when the inner wall of arteries were injured in supervene of less nitric oxide being produced, causing the hardening of the arteries. If the blood clot then blocks the already narrowed artery and shuts off oxygen to part of the brain, we have a thrombotic stroke.
b) Embolic stroke
If blood clotted in other parts of the body's arteries subsequently entering the brain, we have embolic stroke. In this case the clot was formed somewhere other than in the brain itself.
The clot then travels the bloodstream until they come to be lodged and can not voyage any further. This simply restricts the flow of blood to the brain and results in embolic stroke. An embolic stroke occurs when a blood clot or other particle forms in a blood vessel away from your brain. It is normally caused by a dislodged blood clot that has traveled through the blood vessels until it becomes wedged in an artery. It is also caused by irregular beating in the heart's two upper chambers. This abnormal heart rhythm can lead to poor blood flow and the formation of a blood clot.
2. Hemorrhagic stroke
Hemorrhagic stroke occurs when a blood vessel bursts inside the brain, causing an increase of the fluid pressure on the brain and harms the brain by pressing it against the skull. Hemorrhagic stroke is connected with high blood pressure, which stresses the arterial walls until they break.
There are 2 types of hemorrhagic strokes:
a) Intracerebral hemorrhage:
Intracerebral hemorrhage is internal bleeding that can happen in any part of the brain. Blood may acquire in the brain tissues itself, or in the space in the middle of the brain and the membranes surface it. Most generally the problem arises in the small arterial inside the brain which have been diseased causing these tiny blood vessels to start to leak. Since the actual source of the bleeding is often small, it can take time for the blood to build up resulting in symptoms of an intracerebral hemorrhage and often increases over minutes or hours. people may not consideration the problems connected with bleeding into the brain and ischemic strokes.
b) Subarachnoid hemorrhage
Hemorrhagic strokes that cause bleeding into the fluid filled spaces located deep in the brain are called subarachnoid hemorrhage. Subarachnoid hemorrhage may occur at any age but is most common from age 40 to 65. It is caused by the proximity of blood within the subarachnoid space from some pathological processes a supervene of ruptured aneurysms and bleeding may stop spontaneously. Other causes consist of vascular malformation, tumors and infection.The most effective treatment is to go forward with microsurgical clipping of the lesion. This stroke causes numbness of all limbs, unconsciousness and bleeding into the cerebellum produceing typical signs of in coordination with headache and stiffness of the neck.
V. Arresting and Treatment
A. With Foods
1. Cold water fish
Cold water fish such as salmon and tuna contains high amounts of omega 3 and 6 fatty acids that can help to sacrifice the cholesterol clotting up in the arteries and blood vessels in the brain in supervene of lowering blood pressure and the risk of stroke.
2. Almonds
Almonds consist of high amounts of vitamin E and other minerals that can help to sacrifice the levels of bad cholesterol and maintain wholesome blood flow in the body.
3. Blueberries
Blueberries consist of the top antioxidant capacity because of their large anthocyanin attentiveness that helps to prevent heart disease and stroke by reducing the build up of bad cholesterol Ldl.
4. Apples
Apples are loaded with brain-protecting quercetin. It also contains high amounts of antioxidants and chemicals that help to protect cells throughout the body, particularly the brain and the heart.
5. Apricots
Phytochemicals in apricots can help to protect the heart and eye as well prevent stroke. The beta carotene as we mentioned in a former narrative can help to lower the level of bad cholesterol in the arteries, thus reducing the risk of heart diseases and stroke.
6. Carrot
(See Apricots)
7. Kiwi Fruit
Kiwi fruit contains high amounts of vitamin C, potassium, magnesium and antioxidants that are good for the heart and immune law as well as preventing stroke.
8. Rice bran
Rice bran contains high amounts of omega 3 and 6 fatty acids and nutritional dietary fiber that help to lower levels of cholesterol in the arteries and sacrifice the risk of stroke and heart diseases.
9. Oat bran
Oat bran is high in beta glucans that has proven effective in lowering the Ldl as well as reducing the risk of stoke
B. With Nutritional Supplements
1. B-complex
Three B-vitamins: folate, B-6, and B-12 can lower homocysteine, an amino acid that is found simply in the body and study shows that the higher the level of homocysteine in the blood, the higher the risk of stroke.
2. Beta-carotene
Beta-carotene is an antioxidant that may sacrifice oxidative stress to brain cells. Such stress occurs when very evaporative forms of oxygen damage cell structure. Study shows that beta- carotene helps to sacrifice the risk against cerebral infraction and stroke.
3. Vitamin E
Vitamin E is an antioxidant that helps to sacrifice arterial clotting.
4. Selenium
Selenium is a mighty agent that helps to keep tissues and arteries elastic. It also helps to sacrifice the stickiness of the blood and decreases the risk of clotting, in turn lowering the risk of heart charge and stroke. Selenium increases the ratio of Hdl (good) cholesterol to Ldl (bad) cholesterol.
5. Pycnogenol
Pycnogenol helps to keep collagen elastic and soften the blood platelets, production blood flow more efficiently.
6. Co enzyme Q-10
Co enzyme is a strong antioxidant that not only protects low density lipoprotein Ldl against oxidants, but also helps for getting oxygen to the cells.
7. Lecithin
Lecithin is a fat-like substance called a phospholipid that helps to remove bad cholesterol and other lipids from the body. It also protects the arteries and organs from the build up of fatty tissue that can lead to stroke or heart attack.
8. Melatonin
Melatonin is a neurohormone produced in our body by the pineal gland. It is a mighty antioxidant that easily penetrates the blood-brain barricade and is used to treat thrombotic stroke.
9. Vitamin C
Vitamin C helps to improve the arterial wall, lowering the risk of heart diseases and stroke.
C. With Herbs
1.Ginkgo biloba
The herb is extracted from the leaves of the ginkgo biloba tree and was first used medicinally in China more than 4,000 years ago. Ginkgo biloba has the potential to increase the oxygen article to the brain and other corporeal tissues, enhancing circulation of blood and enhancing cerebral tolerance to hypoxia. Study shows that taking Ginkgo and other blood thinner medications together may increase the risk of heart diseases and stroke. Be sure to consult with your doctor before taking ginkgo biloba.
2. Hawthorn
Hawthorn contains cardiotonic amines, polyphenols, and is a source of Vitamins C, B, and many other nutrients that help in relaxing and dilating arteries, expanding the flow of blood and oxygen to and from the heart and maintaining wholesome blood pressure resulting in lowered risk of stroke.
3. Garlic
Garlic contains high amounts of antioxidants and elements that help to improve blood circulation. It is dangerous to take garlic excerpt together with blood thinner medications as we mentioned in a former article.
4. Cayenne
Cayenne contains an active ingredient called capsaicin that has the abilities to lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels as well as preventing heart diseases and stroke.
5. Blueberries
Blueberries are one of the richest food sources of natural antioxidants readily available, having more than twice the levels of other berries that helps to prevent heart disease, stroke and internal bleeding.
6. Pigweed
Pigweed is an excellent plant-source of calcium. It helps lower one-third of the risk of succumbing to heart attack. Personally, I believe these results also apply to ischemic strokes, because they are biologically so similar to heart attack.
7. Willow bark
Willow bark has been shown in any studies to sacrifice the risk of ischemic stroke by about 18 percent. Study shows that willow bark has the aspirin's potential to prevent heart attacks, and also shows a tiny increase in risk of hemorrhagic stroke from taking willow bark daily but the increase was small and not statistically significant.
8. Ginger
This is another herb proven to have anti-clotting abilities and has the same function as garlic.
D. With Chinese Acupuncture and Herbs
1. Acupuncture
Acupuncture is the most favorite treatment modality for stroke patients in China, used effectively on 85% of the stroke patients there. The recently acceptance of acupuncture by western healing practitioners allows one more effective formula in curing diseases especially stroke. Study shows that acupuncture helps to facilitate nerve regeneration, decrease blood viscosity, as well as helping surviving nerve cells find new pathways, effectively bypassing damaged parts of the brain resulting in decreased risk of stroke.
2. Ginkgo biloba (bai guo ye).
Ginkgo biloba improves thinking functioning as well as preventing blood cells from forming blood clots in the brain. Study shows that ginkgo improves blood circulation and lowers plasma cholesterol concentrations that help to lower the risk of stroke.
3. Gastrodia
Gastrodia was listed in the antique Shennong Bencao Jing (ca. 100 A.D.) and was later classified by Tao Hong as a first-rate herb, meaning that it could be taken for a long time to protect condition and prolong life, as well as for treating illnesses. Gastrodia is used by Chinese herbalist in treating stroke and lasting weaknesses of Qi that ultimately blocks the flow of blood to the brain.
4. Cinnamon bark
True Cinnamon is one form of the common spice. As we discussed before, cinnamon helps to lower blood sugar by mimicking insulin, activating insulin receptors and working with insulin in the cells to sacrifice blood sugar by up to 20%. Also cinnamon has some antioxidant benefits that helps to find new pathways for surviving nerve cells after stroke.
5. Angelica
Angelica can help to warm up the chest-yang to remove obstruction of blood flow in the heart vessels as well as brain vessels.
6. Dragon's Blood
Dragon's Blood is used for increased power, purification, protection, consecration, and the amelioration of strong ritual energy. It also helps to comfort pain in the heart due to blood stagnation and stimulate blood circulation to the brain resulting in decreased risk of stroke.
There are many other Chinese herbs that can help to prevent and treat stroke such as ginger root, mantis egg case, and tortoise plastron. Please consult with your doctor before taking any Chinese herb because some of these herbs may have side effects.
E. With common Sense Approaches
1. A wholesome Diet
Uncontrolled diet that is high in saturated fat and trans fat results in cholesterol building up in the arteries and blood vessels obstructing the flow of blood and damaging brain cells because of lack of oxygen causing stroke. If we can consume less of processed foods, fatty animal meats and avoid artificial chemicals and consume more wholesome vegetables and fruits, we can sacrifice the risk of stroke.
2. Put on a happy face
Study shows that people with depression have an increased risk of stroke. Experts also found that people with elevated levels of depression will increase the risk of stroke by 73%.
3. Exercise
Regular moderate practice will help to improve circulation of blood flow and lessen the risk of stroke that is caused by clogged blood vessels by 30% because quarterly walking helps to lower high blood pressure and increase levels of Hdl.
4. Quit Smoking
Cigarettes consist of toxic chemicals cadmium together with heavy metals that cause blood clotting in the arteries resulting in increased high blood pressure and risk of heart diseases as well as stroke.
5. sacrifice intake of alcohol
Excessive drinking increases high blood pressure, thus expanding the likelihood of stroke.
I hope this data will help. If you need more data of the above subject, please visit my home page at:
Brain Cancer Statistics :Stroke - Causes, Symptoms, the Risk Factors, Types, arresting and rehabilitation