Cardiovascular Risk Factors and CRON

[Guest guest]

asked, "Has anyone had good experience with CR and heart disease risk factors?"

Bob responded, "What do you list as heart disease risk factors? There are many such as high fat diet, high sugar intake, high salt intake, obesity to name just a few."

The medical community recognizes the following as positive risk factors for coronary artery disease:

1) AGE over 45 for men, over 55 for women or premature menopause. Obviously CR can't change your chronological age. The idea of CR, though, is to slow the actual aging process, hence reducing cardiovascular risk.

2) FAMILY HISTORY -- MI or sudden death before 55 years of age in father or other male, first-dgree relative; or before 65 years of age in mother or other female first-degree relative. The CRON program is especially important for those of us whose family histories are working against us.

3) CURRENT CIGARETTE SMOKING

4) HYPERTENSION -- Walford claims that the CRON diet has an amazing effect on blood pressure. I think you'll find many CRONies on the list who have experienced such benefits.

5) HYPERCHOLESTEROLEMIA -- Total serum cholesterol over 200 or HDL below 35. If any diet can lower LDL cholesterol and raise HDL, CRON would be it. I follow the CRON diet, have very high HDL but also a high total count, with a family history of high total cholesterol. Obviously the CRON diet and exercise have helped raise my HDL, so I'm better off than I would otherwise be.

6) DIABETES MELLITUS -- Someone else on the list might offer you better information on the effects of a CRON diet on insulin dependent diabetes, if this affects you, or see the archives.

7) SEDENTARY LIFESTYLE/PHYSCIAL INACTIVITY -- Walford's book, "Beyond the 120 Year Diet" has a wonderful explanation therein on the amount of exercise that is required for anti-aging benefits. I personally find that the CRON diet makes be "feel" more like exercising.

Obvious LIFESTYLE factors such as obesity, high sugar and salt intake, and so forth, are likewise improved to one's cardiovascular benefit simply by following the CRON diet.

Hope this helps

Suz

[Guest guest]

Hi All,

My first post after a hiatis.

I edited the previous message at the end to reflect my initial risks

before CRON.

It also occurred to me that an age-old site from our group described

CHD problems from CRON and said in excerpt:

" Within a day or two of posting his response to the survey,

one highly-restricted participant (5' 8 " tall and

weighing, at the time, 112 pounds, 23% below his " set

point " of 145) had a very sobering experience with

cardiac arrhythmia. An EKG showed a clear arrhythmic

pattern; his blood pressure also was increased above

what it had been when he weighed 120. He immediately

increased his caloric intake and modified his nutrition

as well. In a posting to the CR Society mailing list, he

warned about possible damage to health (and potentially

life!) at high levels of CR without an extremely high

level of nutritional knowledge and caution. He also

paralleled the level of restriction he had recently been

on with many of the characteristics of anorexia and

bulimia.

His post underlines the possibility that others besides

himself may have noticed possible side effects which they,

for one reason or another, have not reported: " On

Thursday morning I noticed myself feeling many of the

physical symptoms that had been disturbing me earlier in

the month, but I nonetheless did not note them in

filling out the 'CR side-effects survey' because I

didn't think that my fasting condition was representative.

But the symptoms I refer to are cardiovascular. "

Whether his condition was due to calorie restriction per

se, or a nutritional imbalance brought about through his

efforts at CR, his experience needs to be taken

seriously ,especially by anyone undertaking such a high

level of restriction. "

My own(Al Pater's)experience has been very favourable. My father had

bad irregular heart beats and so did I for about a year before CRON.

Since CRON (well CR at least) of 14 years my heart has been examined

countless times. I wore a 24-hour monitor once. Never a hint of any

problem.

Risk factors can be different from actual disease in many reports.

I have and do have anorexia nervosa with which I struggle.

Cheers, Al.

> asked, " Has anyone had good experience with CR and heart

disease risk factors?

>

> Bob responded, " What do you list as heart disease risk factors?

There are many such as high fat diet, high sugar intake, ... just a

few. "

>

> The medical community recognizes the following as positive risk

factors for coronary artery disease:

>

> 1) AGE over 45 for men...

>

> 2) FAMILY HISTORY -- MI or sudden death before 55 years of age in

father or other male, first-dgree relative; or before 65 years of age

in mother or other female first-degree relative. The CRON program is

especially important for those of us whose family histories are

working against us...

> 5) HYPERCHOLESTEROLEMIA -- Total serum cholesterol over 200 or HDL

below 35. If any diet can lower LDL cholesterol and raise HDL, CRON

would be it. I follow the CRON diet, have very high HDL ..., with a

family history of high total cholesterol.

Obviously the CRON diet and exercise have helped raise my HDL, so I'm

better off than I would otherwise be.

> ...

>

> Obvious LIFESTYLE factors such as obesity, high sugar and salt

intake, and so forth, are likewise improved to one's cardiovascular

benefit simply by following the CRON diet.

>

> Hope this helps

> Suz