8040
WHO IS LIKELY TO SUFFER A HEART ATTACK?
Heart specialists can order tests to check your risk for a heart attack. Your doctor can check your good HDL and bad LDL cholesterol. If the ratio is bad, eat a diet based on fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, seeds and nuts and limit everything else; then take the tests again.
If an electrocardiogram shows left heart strain, called hypertrophy, you are at increased risk. An abnormal blood test for homocysteine shows that you are at high risk for a heart attack, and it can be controlled by taking folic acid, pyridoxine and vitamin B12. If your Lp(a) blood test is above 30, you are at high risk for a heart attack and can protect yourself by taking large doses of the vitamin, niacin. If your triglycerides or hemoglobin A1C blood tests are high, you should markedly reduce your intake of sugar and foods made from flour, eat less food, and perhaps take a drug called gemfibrozil. And if your blood fibrinogen is high, you may need to exercise and perhaps take aspirin. High blood pressure is treated with weight reduction and restriction of saturated fat and flour. Doctors have many different tests to predict who is likely to suffer a heart attack, and ways to lower your risk. See report #1314.
KJ Harjai.Potential new cardiovascular risk factors: Left ventricular hypertrophy, homocysteine, lipoprotein(A), triglycerides, oxidative stress, and fibrinogen.Annals of Internal Medicine, 1999, Vol 131, Iss 5, pp 376-386.
Checked 8/31/05