Heart Disease In Northern Europe example essay topic

Antioxidants Reduce The Risk Posed By Cholesterol Antioxidants Reduce The Risk Posed By Cholesterol Antioxidants Reduce the Risk Posed By Cholesterol Simply reducing blood levels of cholesterol is not enough to reduce the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). People could further reduce their risk of heart disease by eating a diet high in "good' fats, vitamin E, beta carotene, and flavonoids. That's the conclusion of researchers who analyzed 25 years of dietary and health data from 12,773 men in seven countries. The study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (July 12, 1995; 274: 131-6). Lead researcher W.M. Monique Verschuren, MSc, of the National Institute of Public Health and Environmental Protection, Netherlands, reported that higher cholesterol levels were associated with heart disease in the United States, Finland, the Netherlands, Italy, Greece, Croatia and Serbia (formerly part of Yugoslavia), and Japan.

A cholesterol level of 210 mg / d L corresponded to a 4 to 5 percent increase in the death rate from heart disease in Japan and Mediterranean Europe (Greece and Italy). However, the same cholesterol level was far more dangerous elsewhere. It translated to a 10 percent increase in the death rate in central Europe, 12 percent in the United States, and 15 percent in Northern Europe. According to the researchers, men with a cholesterol level generally considered safe– 190 mg / d L– were twice as likely to die of heart disease in Northern Europe than in the Mediterranean. The difference in heart disease risk vis-a-vis cholesterol may very well be related to other aspects of the diet, suggested Verschuren.

"Compared with the Northern European and US diets, the Mediterranean diet at baseline contained less meat but more fish, fruits, vegetables, and ethanol,' she wrote. "The fatty acids consumed in Northern Europe and the United States were predominantly saturated but in the Mediterranean predominantly monounsaturated. Intake of the antioxidant vitamins beta carotene and alpha-tocopherol [vitamin E] was highest in Mediterranean Southern Europe. Flavonoids intake was twice as high in Southern Europe as in Northern Europe and the United States, but was highest in Japan.

Intake of flavonoids, poly phenolic substances with antioxidant properties, has been shown to protect against CHD. ' Verschuren cited previously published research indicating that oxidized low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol promotes heart disease more than does cholesterol protected by antioxidant nutrients. In addition, polyunsaturated fats (common vegetable oils) are more prone to oxidation than are monounsaturated fats (such as olive oil). "These results indicate that the relationship between diet and cholesterol explains only a part of the relationship between diet and CHD. Dietary factors that influence LDL oxidation and thrombotic [clot-causing] factors are also of great importance. ' She concluded, "From a public health perspective it is not enough to focus solely on serum cholesterol levels to decrease the burden of CHD in populations.

It appears that reductions in serum total cholesterol levels are not likely to bring cultures with a high CHD risk, such as the United States and Northern Europe, back to a CHD mortality characteristic for the Mediterranean and Japanese cultures unless other factors are also changed. ' Rob Hanuschik 6/3/99 Mr. Salish Antioxidants Reduce the Risk Posed By Cholesterol In this article they discuss how high chloresterol is not the only factor in the cause for coronary heart disease. They discussed how people could reduce the risk of heart disease by eating "good' fats (unsaturated), vitamin E, beta carotene, and flavonoids. Also they talked about different statistics on heart disease around the world and how the death rate has increased 12 percent do to heart disease in the united states alone. These conclusions support the idea that high chloresterol alone could not be the sole cause of coronary heart disease but how diet links to coronary hearts disease.

This articles relevance to biology is that we just had a lesson on the heart and how chloresterol can clot the arteries causing heart attacks and disease. Also with biologists study of the heart we are able to help people understand the risks of high chloresterol and bad dieting therefore we are able to inform them of there problem and give them ways to correct them and to live a healthy life.