Cardiovascular List All the Different

Cardiovascular

List all the different places where you have lived. For each place what were some of the environmental risk factors that might add to your long-term risk of cardiovascular disease?

The places I have lived at are:

New Brunswick, New Jersey (10 years);

Pittsburgh Pennsylvania (7 years);

San Jose California (2 years); and Morgantown, West Virginia (1 year).

According to data modulated by the Department of Health and Human Services through its Center for Disease Control, the cities of New Brunswick and Pittsburgh show high rate of incidence of cardiovascular disease. Morgantown is close behind but San Jose California is relatively safer. The possible reasons for this could be environmental pollution caused by industrial waste in and around New Jersey and the Eastern United States in general.

The urban sprawl from New York to Philadelphia on which New Brunswick is located is a manufacturing hub, even if recent trends have added decay to it. San Jose California is smack in the middle of Silicon Valley and therefore is perhaps environmentally cleaner given the nature of manufacturing there is very different from heavy industrial complex on the Eastern seaboard.

Dr. Ornish argues that diet and lifestyle account for the growing obesity epidemic here and around the world. Do you think the spread of the fast food American diet is a bigger risk factor than environment? Why or why not?

The diet and lifestyle that accompanies Americanization of the global food industry is very likely the greatest cause of the obesity epidemic. The poly-saturated fats and Trans fatty acids that accompany McDonalds, Pizza Hut, Hardy's, Johnny Rockets and Burger King franchises form a clear nexus to incidence of obesity and consequently cardiovascular disease all around the world. The amounts of trans-fatty acids in foods can vary widely depending on the content of partially hydrogenated oils. From the perspective of the food industry, partially hydrogenated vegetable oils are attractive because of their long shelf life, their stability during the process of deep-frying, and their semi-solidity. The average consumption of industrially produced trans-fatty acids (TFAs) in the United States is 2 to 3% of total consumption. Major sources of Trans fats are deep-fried fast foods and bakery products. Naturally occurring trans-fatty acids are consumed in meager amounts and make up about half a percent of total energy intake including but not limited to meats and dairy products from cows, sheep, and other ruminants; these trans fats are produced by the action of bacteria in the ruminant stomach.

Therefore it is safe to assume that diet containing poly-saturated fats is a much clearer and present danger than environmental factors, which on their own cannot be discarded or disregarded.

Might there be environmental changes that go along with the homogenization of the American diet and the spread of the typical American diet around the world? What might those environmental risks be?