Participants: Claudio Japas, Hildemar Dos Santos
Series Code: WM
Program Code: WM000413
00:01 The following program presents principles
00:03 designed to promote good health 00:04 and is not intended to take the place 00:05 of personalized professional care. 00:08 The opinions and the ideas expressed 00:10 are those of the speaker. 00:11 Viewers are encouraged to draw their own 00:13 conclusions about the information presented. 00:36 Welcome to Wonderfully Made. 00:38 I'm glad you joined us. I'm your host Claudio 00:40 Japas a Doctoral Student at Loma Linda University 00:44 in the Preventive Care Program. 00:45 In Wonderfully Made, we want to make sure 00:48 you understand that God has created the human body 00:50 as an intricate and marvelous creation. 00:54 There are so many components to it. 00:56 There are so many things to learn that 00:58 even in eternity I believe we will always be 01:00 learning more about it. 01:02 Today, we have an interesting topic 01:03 and joining me is Dr. Dos Santos. 01:05 He is a professor at Loma Linda University 01:07 in the Preventive Care Program. 01:09 Welcome Dr. Dos Santos. 01:11 Thank you it's a pleasure to be here 01:13 and we will talk about the heart today. 01:16 That's right you have worked in many countries, 01:19 so you understand the global perspective for health. 01:22 What are some of those countries you worked in? 01:24 Yeah I work in Brazil, I'm originally from Brazil. 01:27 Then I work in United States for a while 01:30 and then I move to Hong Kong. 01:32 And the common thing about that is 01:35 that heart disease is the main cause of that in both 01:38 of the situations in Asia, in South America, 01:41 and in North America. And also in many other 01:45 countries as we will see in the lecture. 01:47 Right, and you are dual doctorate right. 01:52 Doctor in medicine, I correct and doctrine in. 01:55 In Preventive Care or public health. 01:58 Perfect, perfect, so we will be enjoying 02:01 your comments on that wide spectrum 02:03 of knowledge that you have. 02:05 And you are right, heart disease is the number 02:08 one killer not only in America, 02:10 but in the world. In the America alone there 02:13 are over 600 thousand people 02:15 that die from it everyday. 02:17 Sometimes we fear accidents 02:18 or gunshot wounds or deaths a lot, 02:21 but we don't realize that the own organ inside 02:24 our own body is killing so many of us. 02:26 In fact in our graphic we can see that 02:30 in the world as far as America also 02:33 both are killing a lot of people. 02:37 It's a number one killer in both followed in 02:40 America by cancer and stroke 02:42 and in the world by stroke is number two 02:45 and infectious diseases as number, 02:48 respiratory infections diseases as number three. 02:52 So, we can see that in the whole world over 02:54 7 million people every year are dying from the heart. 02:57 Why is this epidemic so big?. 03:01 It is interesting because this starts in our heart 03:06 and it starts in this small vein that we have 03:11 here or a small artery that we call coronaries. 03:16 Is a, is a very tiny artery, 03:19 but if blood does not circulating this part 03:23 of the heart the whole part, 03:25 the whole muscle can die and that's, 03:29 and that's where the problem starts. 03:32 So if someone has a coronary problem 03:35 or obstruction in the end in this part 03:37 so it just a tiny area of the heart that will suffer. 03:41 But, when the heart attack occurs in the bigger, 03:45 biggest part then there is a risk of 03:50 what we call is total myocardial infarction 03:56 that will destroy the heart. 03:59 That tissue over there. So, why does it happen 04:01 again is here, but is related to lifestyle. 04:07 Mostly there is a deposit of cholesterol 04:09 inside of the arteries. 04:11 There is a deposit of calcium and fibrin 04:14 and all over these things that block the circulation. 04:17 Always, I like to use cars as an example 04:20 because it's something that most of us see that 04:21 however familiar with and perhaps a good analogy 04:26 that I would add is if we had a car 04:28 and there is conduit or tubing or pipes 04:31 that go from the gas tank to the engine 04:34 and that provides fuel so that engine 04:36 can function normally. If that conduit is blocked 04:42 or stop in a certain manner the fuel 04:45 can't get to the engine and the engine would 04:46 shut down or that part would stop from working 04:49 much the same way our heart needs the conduit those 04:52 arteries to pass the blood to function normally, 04:55 to receive the oxygen and the nutrients for that 04:58 muscle to be contracting and working. 05:00 But if it's blocked, if it's stiffened, 05:01 there is less life in that right, 05:03 there is, it's to gonna stop 05:04 and does the heart attack. 05:07 What is causing that blockage? 05:10 Will you mentioned little bit about plaque. 05:12 What is plaque and what is causing that 05:15 plaque from building there 05:16 or the stiffening of the arteries also. 05:19 Well there is a combination of diet and exercise. 05:23 Those are the main factors so, if you, 05:26 if you don't exercise then the circulation 05:31 is not gonna be the same, but the advantage as 05:35 when you exercise you develop an extra 05:39 copular net of vessels so instead of having just one, 05:47 you have a lot of small ones around. 05:49 So, you have an increase circulation 05:53 because when we exercise the heart to get stronger. 05:56 So, a lack of exercise means 05:58 lack of irrigation in the heart. 06:01 Okay. The other point is that too much fat 06:04 in the food and too much protein in a diet that 06:11 is high in sugar will cause that 06:14 the blood will be thick. Okay. 06:18 When the blood is think is gonna deposit high, 06:21 higher level or higher amount of 06:24 cholesterol in the arteries. 06:26 The other thing is that this creates a small bump 06:29 in the arteries. And it takes maybe 10 06:32 or to 20 years for this bump to obstruct, 06:34 but you imagine here you have a small bump 06:38 and then you have a thick blood, 06:41 so a thick blood in a small bump 06:43 will create the flow and will create a clot easy. 06:47 And this is the main cause 80% or 85% 06:51 of heart attacks are caused not because of total 06:54 obstruction may because of 06:55 a clot that was created, 06:56 in the blood that blocking that, exactly, yeah. 06:58 Okay, so that's good to know. 07:00 So, the diet you mention what we eat has a big 07:04 part to do and then lack of exercise. 07:06 Is there a list of risk factors 07:07 or something that we can look out and say well 07:09 I can maybe check these risk factors or 07:13 different things that I maybe in danger of. 07:16 Yes, you are right, there is two types of risk factors 07:20 and we can see in the graphic that we have 07:23 risk factors the first three ones, 07:26 family history, age and gender are considered 07:29 the normal defiled ones. 07:31 Then the other ones like weight especially 07:35 abdominal weight, physical inactivity, 07:37 diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, 07:40 smoking, and stress are the habits that we can change. 07:45 So, you see that is a combinational effect 07:49 you cannot say that heart disease is caused 07:51 by one thing, but when you accumulate three, 07:56 four of those factors so your risk 07:58 for heart disease is increased a lot. 08:02 Alright, right, so I'm looking at this list 08:04 and I'm wondering well, which one should I, 08:06 should I check first you know the last one 08:10 or it should be maybe my family history 08:12 is their one way to begin or where 08:15 I should begin looking. 08:16 Yeah, you know that I always mention 08:19 check your ancestors, 08:22 check your family for risks, 08:24 either heart disease or cancer or diabetes 08:27 you should know, you should have a map 08:30 of what happened to your father, mother, 08:32 grandfather and siblings. 08:36 And then you have an idea if someone die from 08:40 heart disease or someone had a heart attack, 08:42 you might have a risk for that 08:44 and then you have to provide so 08:47 Be more cautious. Yeah more cautious for that. 08:49 Take precautions, yeah, I should say. 08:51 So, do not fall in the same trap because 08:52 you already more predisposed 08:54 to those risk factors or that disease. 08:59 What about age, I saw age on their and gender. 09:03 Those are things I can't change, 09:05 what should I do about those, 09:06 how should I check on those 09:07 or use those to my advantage. 09:09 Well, age we have a software that we use 09:13 to calculate the health age and then I 09:17 believe that there is biological age 09:19 and health age. 09:21 That means that if you follow a good lifestyle 09:25 you are gonna live longer. 09:26 So, if you check your age today you might be 09:29 younger compared to yourself 09:32 if you don't fall, biological age, 09:34 is to biological age, so even person that is old 09:38 he might not have the risk of die soon 09:42 because of lifestyle. But, some people say well 09:45 I have 60 years old and is old, 09:49 it's late to start exercising and lifestyle. 09:53 But, I have a lady that started exercise 09:56 at 66 years old they wanna have heard 09:59 Peacher now, Hulda Crooks. 10:02 She started exercising at 66 years old. 10:05 And then she died when she was 104. 10:09 I use to see her, I used to live in Loma Linda, 10:12 where she was on that time she was 100 years old 10:17 and always walking 3, 4 miles 10:19 a day around the city. Amazing, Amazing. 10:21 Yeah and so you cannot see well, 10:24 but she started exercising since she was a kid, 10:29 but no she started with 66 years old 10:32 and she climbed all the mountains in California. 10:35 And she climbed Mount Fuji in Japan 10:39 was the oldest person to climb that 10:41 Mount Fuji with 92 years old. 10:44 And she climbed Mount Whitney in California 10:48 and many times and they name her 10:51 to the other mountain close to Mount Whitney 10:55 that is Mount Crook now. Amazing so even if you 11:01 are above 66, there is no reason to think that, 11:05 there is no reason to start exercising or to 11:07 strengthening my heart. 11:09 There should always age shouldn't be an excuse. 11:12 And going back to the biological age, 11:14 it's nice to know that perhaps from 70 or from 11:17 even 30 that I can be doing things in my life 11:21 that will give me a normal life or good 11:24 quality of life while I'm so here. 11:27 And definitely Hulda Crooks is 11:29 a perfect example that. 11:31 Now going to the doctor is that a good preventive 11:35 measure or only when I see the risk 11:38 or if I know others risk how would you assess that? 11:41 Yeah, I would say that you should do medical 11:45 checkup everybody should do a medical check up 11:48 to check for disease. So, you will have 11:51 your family history and then you go to the doctor 11:55 periodically I mean once a year, 11:57 once every two years depend on your age. 11:59 And then you have picture of that, 12:02 some people stop that, so I went to the doctor 12:05 my cholesterol is good, my heart is good, 12:07 my blood is good, but they, they should go 12:11 one step further and check their lifestyle 12:14 because is not just the cholesterol, 12:16 is not just the blood samples, 12:19 is not just the physicals. You might have 12:24 other factors, you might have an excessive weight, 12:27 you might have, you might not be doing exercise 12:30 and then even if their tests are normal 12:33 you might be at risk. If you don't have a good, 12:36 if you don't do your homework. 12:37 Yeah homework, what do you mean by homework, 12:39 I thought hopefully by then we would be 12:41 done with school, but always a different kind 12:44 of homework perhaps you are doing 12:46 I don't know explain that a little bit better. 12:47 Yeah, homework is like I have a patient 12:52 two weeks ago we did a fair in San Bernardino 12:55 and then we check blood pressure in the population. 12:58 So, we have this heavy guy that sat on the chair 13:02 and say measure my blood pressure. 13:04 So, we put the cuff we measure blood pressure 13:08 and there was a friend of him that was in front 13:11 and he was watching for him or waiting for him 13:14 and then his pressure was 120/76 and then 13:19 he was heavy and he told the guy see what exercise 13:23 does to you and that guy what you mean by that. 13:26 Well, I go to the gym everyday. 13:28 So, it is not important that if you are overweight, 13:33 you are gonna have the risk, 13:35 what is more important is that 13:37 even if you haven't lost the weight. 13:39 But, you are doing your homework that's 13:41 what I mean, he was doing the exercise. 13:44 He is doing his part, he was going everyday 13:47 going to the gym, perfect, 13:49 perfect, even if is half-an-hour, 13:50 but he was being consistent with that making 13:52 sure he had the benefits of what is to do your part 13:56 because the doctor can't do anything he can maybe 13:58 tell you the symptoms or what you may need more, 14:01 but God gave us our body for us to be in charge 14:04 of to us to take care of. 14:05 In the point for him is that he was able to 14:09 control his blood pressure. 14:12 Another point related to that 14:14 is that you go to the doctor. 14:15 The doctor prescribes something, 14:17 so we know today the prescription 14:19 for hypertension, the prescription for diabetes 14:22 and people don't come comply with that. 14:24 And then they have a high risk, 14:27 I believe that medicines are important to prevent 14:30 the disease in the near future in a couple of 14:34 months or years, it can prevent a heart attack. 14:38 So, it's important to take the medicine. 14:40 Of course, the lifestyle is also important 14:43 and lifestyle will give you a broad longer time, 14:47 and longer range, will protect you for 10 14:49 and 20 years, but you cannot skip the medicine 14:53 and that's the problem. Many people say, 14:54 I don't need that or I don't like the doctor 14:57 or I don't like the prescription, 14:59 I feel the side effects, so if the doctor prescribe 15:03 something you have to follow because there 15:05 are people that die because of hypertension simply 15:08 because they don't take the medication. Right, 15:10 right. They get a stroke and then is complicated. 15:13 So, medicines are important, 15:16 but the homework is important and I wanna 15:18 share with you that the medicines 15:21 like I said are needed many times, 15:23 but if we can start our homework, 15:25 remember what homework was doing our part, 15:26 doing our exercise, eating right. 15:29 As early as possible and even if it's late, 15:32 it's never true late. That we can most likely 15:34 avoid many of the mediations that 15:36 we often times have to take because we haven't 15:39 done our homework previously. 15:40 So, exercise is extremely important 15:43 for heart disease, but sometimes 15:45 we hear some stories that are little 15:47 discomfort to hear like somebody goes to the gym 15:48 and they are working super hard and they work 15:51 on the exercise and next day I know they 15:54 fall over with the heart attack or die. 15:57 How do you explain that 15:58 they are doing their exercise? 16:00 Well first of all 7 million people die 16:04 and I would say 99% of this guys 16:08 die because of lack of exercise. 16:09 Okay. But, we have a percentage 1% of 16:14 people are died during exercise. 16:16 Okay. And why is that, one time I have a patient 16:21 that was a smoker for many years 16:24 and then he came to my office 16:26 and he stop smoking. 16:28 And then he was about 60 years old 16:32 and when he was 70 years old 16:34 he was a German guy, he visited Germany, 16:36 he is Germany and then when he was there 16:39 in this trip he saw all the destructions that 16:43 the second world war cause to his Germany 16:46 and he got so depressed, he got a heart attack 16:49 and he died. So, they mentioned why this guy die, 16:53 the same question, if he stop his smoking 16:56 he was doing a good homework 16:58 then I told the widow well he would died 17:02 much earlier probably I cannot guess 17:06 the right things, but it's about some people die 17:10 everywhere and anywhere and so you have to may be 17:16 if the person didn't exercise he would have 17:20 be gone before. But, I have an advice 17:24 for our audience. I believe we have 17:29 to respect our body. 17:31 Many people go to exercise and they go to streams 17:37 and they feel, they feel uneasy and sometimes 17:41 they feel dizzy they feel pain, 17:43 but they go with the motivation and they go 17:46 and they think that this is the main thing. 17:48 I have a graphic to show you from 17:52 Hong Kong Marathon. For many years, 17:55 I was a trainer for club that we have in Hong Kong 18:00 for the Hong Kong Adventist Hospital. 18:02 And I run a club for Marathon runners. 18:05 Encourage exercise, encourage them, 18:07 exactly, be active. 18:08 And you see in this picture, 18:09 I run several half marathons, 18:12 half marathons in what they call Hong Kong charted, 18:16 standard charted marathon 18:18 and we have people that will die, almost die 18:21 they will feel pain in their knees and 18:24 pain in the back and they will go and say no 18:28 I have to finish and this will mean that they will 18:31 finish that marathon. 18:32 But, they will have a lesion in their knees 18:36 that will stay forever. So, I would say respect 18:40 your body and I was the person that was 18:44 when they started to say you run a full 18:47 marathon as you know full is too much. 18:49 Right. I go for a half, even half is too much. 18:52 So by respecting you mean listen to the symptoms 18:55 or the sings of pain or okay, 18:58 I haven't done this in a while I need to start slowly 19:01 or my body is not used to this. 19:03 I should give my body a chance to accommodate 19:05 or get to that point where I can get that. 19:07 And don't exaggerate in terms of exercise. 19:10 I was interviewed one time by a reporter 19:14 and then she was to write an article 19:16 about running and then she said how about 19:18 a person that runs 5 miles. 19:20 And then cannot go to 6 and 7 and 10 miles 19:24 and just go to 5 miles and that's it. 19:26 What is your advice? You know what I said? 19:29 What did you tell her. 19:30 I tell that I told her, oh, how about the five miles 19:34 is the ideal thing for her. So, 19:36 why she has to go to 10 miles. 19:38 Exactly. You know 19:39 what they never wrote that article. 19:41 They never published it that interview 19:44 because I mean the push is that do a lot you 19:48 motivation you can do, but in this 19:50 you have to have a limit. 19:51 You have to respect your own limits. 19:54 So, if you feel so tired, so exhausted 19:57 and many marathon runners they get a cold, 20:00 a big cold after the race that means you're 20:04 your immune system has been suppressed. 20:06 So, you have to put attention to that. 20:07 If you feel good. Exercises taken to 20:09 an extreme and then, exactly, 20:11 that extreme suppresses or what is a fatigue 20:14 stressor on the body that's unnecessary. 20:16 So, once in a while perhaps or if you train up 20:19 to that point it might be a different story. 20:21 But, like you said respect the body, 20:23 know that God put limits to it 20:26 and to live happily in among those limits. 20:29 Another thing is when you have a major disease 20:32 or a surgery. So, you have to have a period 20:37 of recovery after that you. 20:39 If you even if you are a runner after a major 20:42 disease in your life, you have to go slow, 20:44 you have to start walking and 20:45 then progressively get to the point. 20:48 Exactly, I think that point has been 20:51 made clear them to be progressive 20:54 and slow and respective. 20:56 Now on to a different topic on diet. 20:58 Diet and heart disease, you mentioned at the 21:00 beginning that what we eat becomes part of us. 21:04 So, if we are eating high fatty foods 21:07 that actually becomes part of our body 21:09 or actual cells and storage and 21:11 part of it goes to the heart. 21:13 What do you have to say about diet? 21:16 Well diet is as important as exercise and 21:20 I mentioned at the beginning that 21:21 high fat diet will increase cholesterol and 21:24 this will depositing in the arteries. 21:28 And also a high sugar diet mix with the high fat 21:33 diet will create the flow that is 21:37 very slow in the arteries. Is like a river. 21:40 Small and thicker. Yeah, because 21:42 of the thickness the flow is gonna be slow 21:44 and then this will cause more deposit in the, 21:47 in the wall of the arteries 21:54 and then this will if you have an artery that 21:58 is ready with a plaque, 22:01 so this plaque will recreate this, 22:06 something that the blood will not flow very well 22:08 to the cells because there is this 22:11 plaque and there is low flow. 22:14 Right. Like a river full of flesh, 22:16 full of dirt, it cannot flow. 22:19 You see some rivers that. 22:22 Very sluggish. Very sluggish and 22:24 that on circulation is not going anywhere. 22:28 Well, I like to think about diet in a global 22:33 perspective or international perspective 22:36 and then we have a problem because they have some 22:39 countries that are in sub nutritious stage 22:44 they don't have what to eat, 22:47 so I'm in charge of a class that 22:49 we call in global health, global health 22:52 nutrition then is a struggle because 22:54 we have to teach that we have to provide food 22:57 for the third war, but we have to be careful to not 23:01 transform that the third war to the first war 23:06 or the developing countries style of not 23:09 having food to the developed countries 23:13 of having too much food 23:15 and too much rich food. 23:17 That's what we called a nutritional transition. 23:20 A rich food you mean foods that are high caloric 23:24 or calorically dense foods. So, 23:26 lot of calories little few 23:28 nutrients. High density foods. 23:29 Yeah high density, 23:30 the nutrients are little low 23:31 and the minerals or vitamins, the fiber, 23:33 so that when you talk about rich 23:35 that's we are planning. 23:37 Yes, that's the point and then we have to balance 23:42 that in terms of teaching these countries. 23:49 Because what is happening in the developing 23:51 countries is that in the rural areas 23:53 they don't have enough food. 23:55 But, in the CD they have Western this kind of food 23:59 high density, low nutrients food and then people 24:02 in the rural areas still I wonder they have 24:05 infectious disease and diarrhea and nutrition 24:09 problem malnourishment. In the CDs, 24:12 they have obesity, diabetes, 24:14 high cholesterol, and hypertension. 24:16 So, we need to be careful that those diseases 24:18 are transformed or brought into the rural areas 24:23 through the fast food or the junk food 24:26 or some of theses foods that 24:28 aren't the best for the body. 24:30 Within our company followed by 24:32 if eaten in access with the diseases. 24:35 Yeah, this they call epidemiological transition. 24:38 When the countries come from disease 24:42 that are infectious and they go to chronic 24:45 disease that are related to lifestyle 24:47 not only nutrition, but nutrition 24:49 and exercise this is the characteristic of rich, 24:54 the rich country. So, you have more food, 24:56 you have, but you should not be like that 24:59 because in that case you just change the style 25:02 of disease or the types of disease 25:05 and you get in the same trouble. 25:07 So, I have a problem when we go to these countries 25:11 and we bring our style of eating and then 25:17 we instead of helping them to overcome the disease, 25:20 we help them to change the pattern of disease. 25:24 Not quickly maybe you can answer the question 25:27 that the argument that's brought by many that 25:30 maybe this is a genetic thing that may be 25:32 these different countries, different areas have 25:34 a generic disposition to these diseases. 25:37 Is that something that we can use as an excuse. 25:40 Yeah, before we go there 25:42 I would like to tell a story 25:44 about what happen in Beijing. 25:46 We have, we have a very interesting thing 25:51 that researcher went to talk to 25:55 Altoist about the problem 25:58 of fast food restaurants seen in China. 26:01 And after he talked, the Chinese 26:03 Altoist came and said, 26:06 what do you mean by that. We were under nourished. 26:10 We want more fresh food restaurants. 26:12 We want more restaurants because 26:14 we are eager to have more food. 26:16 Yes. And they don't understand that those foods 26:19 might not be the best for them. 26:21 So, then I have to answer a question 26:24 about what was that? 26:26 The genetic recession. The genetic, yeah, 26:28 use as an argument many times. 26:30 Yeah, well I just have a less picture here about 26:33 the Pima Indians to show that is not genetic. 26:36 So, in this picture you see that Pima Indians 26:40 are in Arizona and they are in Southern Mexico. 26:46 In Southern Mexico, they kept the lifestyle 26:49 that is healthy exercise and healthy diet. 26:54 In Arizona they adopted the lifestyle 26:58 the western lifestyle of eating and no exercise 27:02 so if you talk about the risk of diabetes 27:05 and high cholesterol and obesity the Mexicans 27:09 when they don't have it. 27:10 But, in Arizona they have us we have. 27:12 The same, the same.. So, is not genetic, 27:15 I mean they have the same 27:16 nature caputring, but they 27:18 have two lifestyles different. 27:21 So, genetics isn't the only exercise we can use. 27:23 Lifestyle becomes one of those big components 27:25 in our lives that we can take control of and use 27:28 for our own benefit. Dr. Dos Santos you 27:30 have been a blessing to us I thank you for coming 27:32 for adding your knowledge and 27:34 your practical applications 27:36 on how to take care of our hearts. 27:38 Thank you very much. You are welcome, 27:39 it's my pleasure to be here. 27:41 Thank you. And to all our listeners and viewers 27:44 we want to make sure that you realize that 27:47 the number one killer is right inside of us. 27:50 That the heart often times is mistreated 27:53 and it is part of God's wonderful creation. 27:56 Let us remember John 14:1, 27:58 where Jesus says let your heart 28:00 not be troubled trust in God, 28:02 trust also in me. We are Wonderfully Made 28:05 let us trust God continually treating 28:06 our bodies the best way. |
Revised 2014-12-17