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Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women in American. A new link to the disease was recently discovered among mature women. A new study shows postmenapousal women are at risk for heart disease when they are exposed to air pollution.
The culprit is not a grey haze that coats urban areas but tiny particles found in the air that are caused by factories, fuel emission and coal plants, much like the Indian River power plant – rated among the dirtiest in the nation.
The study, released by the University of Washington Occupational and Environmental Medicine Program, showed long-term exposure to fine-particulate air pollution is associated with cardiovascular disease and death among postmenopausal women. Scientists studied more than 6,000 women and eliminated other risk factors that lead to heart disease.
“We have the dirtiest coal-burning plant left in the nation in our backyard, and Route 1 traffic is horrible,” said naturopathic doctor Kim Furtado.
She said years of breathing dirty air into the lungs, which goes into the bloodstream and into the heart, builds up in the system and causes heart disease much like smoking tobacco. “You drag a cigarette, but how much time are you breathing it in? But a small amount of particles all the time is just as dangerous and exceeds as a risk factor,” Furtado said. Many of the dangerous air particles contain mercury, lead and other chemicals that cause inflammation in the heart.
Women in the Cape Region breathe in pollution from the coal plant and from fuel emissions from heavy summer traffic.
Moving from the area will not prevent the pollution from affecting women’s health, unless there is an untouched oasis without fine particles in the air. “We have to stop this. Pollution is everywhere,” she said. Furtado suggests writing legislators to find better energy alternatives because gasoline and coal-burning plants are threatenting people’s lives.
Doctors and legislators agree changes have to be made to prevent disease and poor health. “I’m a strong proponent of looking at whatever we can do to have cleaner air and water and for provisions to have energy in the country that has less impact on the environment and health,” said U.S. Rep Mike Castle in a recent interview about health issues.
He said there are active conversations in the country on replacing coal energy, but it will take up to 15 years for those alternatives to become a reality.
Before those alternative and clean energies - such as solar and wind power - come to fruition, there are some things women can do to prevent heart disease. Furtado recommends addressing other risk factors. Women should stop smoking cigarettes, exercise and eat a diet full of fruits and vegetables.
The American Heart Association has just updated its recommendations for women to prevent and treat heart disease. Instead of treating heart disease after it strikes, the association suggests lifestyle changes to help manage blood pressure, including weight control, increased physical activity, alcohol moderation, sodium restriction and an emphasis on eating fresh fruits, vegetables and low-fat dairy products.
“The updated guidelines emphasize the lifetime risk of women, not just the more short-term focus of the 2004 guidelines,” wrote Dr. Lori Mosca, chairwoman of the American Heart Association expert panel, in a press release.
“We took a long-term view of heart disease prevention because the lifetime risk of dying of cardiovascular disease is nearly one in three for women. This underscores the importance of healthy lifestyles in women of all ages to reduce the long-term risk of heart and blood vessel diseases,” Mosca wrote.
In addition to advising women to quit smoking, the 2007 guidelines take it a step further by recommending counseling or nicotine replacement.
With new changes, the association upped minimum exercise to 60 to 90 minutes of moderate activity, such as brisk walking, every day.
The guidelines now encourage all women to reduce saturated fats intake to less than 7 percent of calories if possible and to eat oily fish at least twice a week to increase omega-3 fatty acid intake. If women don’t like fish, the association states they should take 850 to 1,000 mg of the helpful oil in a supplement.
The American Heart Association also urges women to stop taking hormone replacements, folic acid or antioxidant vitamins as a method of preventing heart disease, and they should consider taking a low dose of aspirin each day.
Contact Molly Albertson at malbertson@capegazette.com
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