Athlete Alert: Renowned Neurosurgeon Identifies Aspartame & MSG in Sudden Cardiac Death
Neurosurgeon Russell Blaylock, M.D. explains the relationship between sudden cardiac death, especially in athletes, and excitotoxic damage produced by food additives and artificial sweeteners.
(PRWEB) April 15, 2005 -- Dr. Russell Blaylock, an author and neurosurgeon,
explains the relationship between sudden cardiac death, especially in athletes,
and excitotoxic damage caused by food additives and artificial
sweeteners.
-- By Russell L. Blaylock, M.D. --
Over 460,000 people
anually die of a disorder called sudden cardiac death, according to CDC
statistics. This condition strikes otherwise healthy people who have experienced
no obvious symptoms of heart disease prior to their abrupt deaths.
An
alarming number young athletes are included in these deaths, in high schools and
colleges as well as among professional athletes. While in some of these
individuals cardiologists found evidence of coronary disease and scars from
earlier silent heart attacks, there is one mechanism that's getting no attention
at all: the excitotoxin damage caused by food additives and the artificial
sweetener aspartame. This is despite growing evidence that the excitotoxic
mechanism plays a major role in cardiac disease.
Previously, it was
thought that excitotoxic food additives, such as monosodium glutamate and
aspartic acid in aspartame, cause their damage in the cardiovascular centers in
the brain stem and/or by over-stimulating sympathetic centers in the
hypothalamus of the brain. Both mechanisms have resulted in sudden cardiac death
in experimental animals.
A particularly deadly combination occurs in
young athletes: Low magnesium intake, high calcium intake, low intake of omgea-3
fatty acids and excitotoxins in food additives. Strenuous exercise, especially
in extreme heat, depletes the body's magnesium stores, as does consumption of
carbonated drinks and taking calcium supplements. Also adrenalin secretion,
increased during exercise, intensifies heart muscle irritability and further
loss of magnesium as well. When calcium supplements are taken in the face of an
existing magnesium deficiency, both magnesium and calcium are driven into the
bones, producing a sudden magnesium-depletion crisis.
Low magnesium
produces seizures and causes sudden cardiac arrest. In a classic experiment it
was found that stressing magnesium-deficient animals resulted in an almost 100%
mortality from sudden cardiac arrest. Adding magnesium reduced mortality
dramatically. A considerable body of evidence has shown that low omega-3 fat
intake significantly increases the risk and severity of cardiac arrhythmias, the
main cause of sudden cardiac death.
A number of studies have shown that
Americans are significantly deficient in these protective fats. Finally, recent
research has shown that the brain is not the only tissue having glutamate
receptors. Numerous glutamate receptors have been found both within the heart's
electrical conduction system and the heart muscle itself.
When an excess
of food-borne excitotoxins, such as MSG, hydrolyzed protein soy protein isolate
and concentrate, natural flavoring, sodium caseinate and aspartate from
aspartame, are consumed, these glutamate receptors are over-stimulated,
producing cardiac arrhythmias. When magnesium stores are low, as we see in
athletes, the glutamate receptors are so sensitive that even low levels of these
excitotoxins can result in cardiac arrhythmias and death.
This is
especially so when combined with the other factors mentioned. Under such
condition, free radicals and lipid eroxidation products build up within the
muscle cells, leading to the same outcome.
High consumption of aspartame
adds an additional cardiac muscle toxin: methanol. A number of studies have
shown that consuming aspartame and MSG (and similar excitotoxins) together
greatly magnifies the toxicity.
Young people live on junk foods, most of
which contain a number of excitotoxic additives. Several studies have shown that
the levels consumed by our youth equal those that cause damage in experimental
animals. Humans are 5X more sensitive to these toxins than any animal.
The same factors operate in older individuals. Most people over age 50
years are depleted of magnesium, have low omega-3 fat intakes, are under stress
and take a number of medications which compromise nutrition, especially
magnesium levels. Because seniors are more likely to have coronary artery
disease plus other medical conditions, their risk of sudden cardiac death is
even higher.
Both athletes and those over age 45 should take magnesium
supplements, antioxidants, omega-3 oils, eat more vegetables and avoid foods and
artificial sweeteners containing excitotoxins such as aspartame and MSG. This
accomplishes a lot more than attempting to rescue a victim with an external
defibrillator after the fact.
Dr. Blaylock's web site is www.russellblaylockmd.com. He is author of "Excitotoxins: The
Taste That Kills and Health & Nutrition Secrets to Save Your Life." He can
be seen in the movie on aspartame, "Sweet Misery: A Poisoned World."
Copies are available from e-mail protected from spam bots.
Case
histories now being taken on aspartame and brain tumors from New York, New
Jersey, Illinois and Mississippi in the last three years. Send to e-mail
protected from spam bots
Also, The FDA blamed deaths on ephedra and
removed it from the market. The FDA records on ephedra were reviewed by the
renowned neuroscientist Dr. John Olney who founded the field of neuroscience
called excitotoxicity and tried to prevent the approval of aspartame and said
ephedra is safe.
The Ephedra story is on http://www.wnho.net
In the movie, "Sweet Misery," Diane
Fleming is interviewed from prison. Her husband, an aspartame addict, who played
basketball several times a week, died and she was charged with his death.
Several experts have written affidavits that Charles Fleming died from
aspartame.
Contact:
Dr. Betty Martini
Mission Possible Intl
9270 River Club Parkway, Duluth, Georgia 30097
770 242-2599
http://www.dorway.com
Aspartame Toxicity Center: http://www.holisticmed.com/aspartame
Aspartame
Information List: http://www.wnho.net
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/4/prweb225071.htm