Tag Archives: Myocardial infarction

What foods cause a heart attack?

Most cases of heart disease today involve a heart attack or myocardial infarction (MI) -a blood clot in a coronary (heart) artery causing a blockage and death to the heart muscle. 

Most people don’t realize that MI was almost nonexistent around 1910. That’s right – nobody was having heart attacks. However, by the year 1930, MI caused a total of 3,000 deaths. Then, by 1960 that number reached 500,000! At this time, MI was the US’s #1 cause of death. Stroke rates also increased; the cause of MI and stroke is similar: blockages in the large arteries supplying the heart and brain. 

Why did this happen?

Nutritional changes in the American diet.

Paul Dudley White, MD, “the father of modern cardiology,” helped found the American Heart Association and introduced the electrocardiograph machine to America. He made these remarks at a 1956 American Heart Association televised fund-raiser: 

Heart disease in the form of myocardial infarction was nonexistent in 1900 when egg consumption was three times what it was in 1956, and corn oil was unavailable…I began my practice as a cardiologist in 1921, and I never saw an MI patient until 1928. Back in the MI-free days of 1920, the fats were butter and lard. And I think we would all benefit from the kind of diet we had when no one had heard the word ‘corn oil.’ 

The changes in diet were two-fold: firstly, people began consuming fewer protective fats like eggs, lard, butter, and tallow (beef fat) and generally began avoiding animal fats. Secondly, the consumption of trans fats skyrocketed!  At the time, they were primarily found in margarine, corn, and vegetable oils that were barely used until the 1920s. Now, trans fats are found in most commercial junk foods. It is because of trans fats that a Twinkie can last for a decade- bacteria are unable to break its chemical bonds. 

Your body can’t digest trans fats, which become toxic to your liver and other internal organs, especially your heart. Avoid trans fats and eat natural, healthy fats to have a well-functioning heart and avoid heart disease and stroke.

Interestingly, the Framingham heart study found that those who ate the most saturated fat, calories, and cholesterol were the most physically active. They also weighed the least and had the lowest levels of serum cholesterol! 

Traditional Eating & Myocardial Infarction

Myocardial infarction (MI) was almost non-existent in 1900. Doctors thinking about specializing in heart ailments were told that they’d starve because heart disease was so rare, that they might see only one case in their entire career. 

MI is when there is a massive blood clot leading to obstruction of a coronary artery and consequent death of the heart muscle. 

Myocardial infarction

By 1960, there were at least 500,000 MI deaths per year in the US. What lifestyle changes had caused this increase? What made MI go from rare to the number one killer? Three words: hydrogenated vegetable oils. 

For all human history, the only oils or fats (they are the same) that were used were those that were found in nature: olive oil, coconut oil, butter, tallow, lard, chicken fat, goose, and duck fat (mostly saturated fats). 

Good fat consumption is essential.

In 1900 egg consumption was three times what it was in 1956 and corn oil was unavailable, and Mis didn’t exist. Good fats don’t cause heart disease, but bad fats do.

Today, we have cheap seed oils that are created under high pressure and temperature and are damaging to the cardiovascular system: canola oil, soy oil, corn oil, sunflower seed, cottonseed, safflower, and other “seed” oils (mostly unsaturated fats). Another dangerous product is margarine. These oils cause inflammation of the heart’s arteries and promote blockages. 

If you’d like to live a healthy, long life do yourself and your family a favor and ditch the hydrogenated vegetable oils for traditional fats. (4) 

  1. The Oiling of America. By Sally Fallon and Mary G. Enig. https://www.westonaprice.org/oiling-of-america-in-new-york/