Cardiovascular diseases are always our topic. As we mentioned before, nattokinase is the savior of cardiovascular disease. And as we all know, sports is also one of the saviors. But have you ever wondered whether the best athletes among us, the Olympians, can be completely immune to cardiovascular disease? Unfortunately, Olympic athletes are not immune from cardiovascular disorders and might be exposed to unforeseen high-risk during sports activity, Italian researchers say. To be honest, this result was quite unexpected. Because we generally think that moderate exercise is good for the body, especially for patients with cardiovascular diseases. But I didn’t expect Olympic athletes to have such problems.
Definition of cardiovascular disease
Before analyzing and drawing conclusions, let us define what is cardiovascular disease. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a general term for conditions affecting the heart or blood vessels. There are many different types of CVD. Four of the main types are coronary heart disease, strokes and TIAs, peripheral arterial disease, and aortic disease.
Coronary heart disease will lead to angina, heart attacks, and heart failure which are the main causes of sudden death. Coronary heart disease caused by genetics, race, and age is basically difficult to change.
Strokes are where the blood supply to part of the brain is cut off caused by blood clots. If not treated in time, sequelae may be left. If you are a long-time reader of Eiffel Biotech, you must know that nattokinase can effectively dissolve blood clots and prevent blood clots. TIAs are similar to strokes but the blood flow to the brain is only temporarily disrupted.
Peripheral artery disease (PAD) is a manifestation of systemic atherosclerosis, including different disease groups that cause arterial stenosis or occlusion, and aneurysm expansion of the aorta or non-coronary artery branches.
It is generally believed that aortic disease is prone to occur in the elderly, but with changes in social patterns, dietary habits and family inherited hypertension, high blood sugar, high blood lipids, “three highs”, long-term smoking, life stress, etc. Arteriosclerosis occurs in the intima of the blood vessel, and the blood vessel wall loses its elasticity and becomes fragile, which becomes the main cause of aortic disease.
Olympic athletes aren’t free from cardiovascular diseases
Dr. Antonio Pelliccia, scientific director of the Institute of Sports Medicine of the Italian National Olympic Committee in Rome, and his colleagues study 2,300 athletes during the period between the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens and the 2014 Games in Sochi, Russia. You can click this link to check the detailed study. They screen the heart through processes like incorporating medical history, physical exam, an ECG, and an echocardiogram.
92 athletes, 4% of all athletes participating in the study, had abnormal results. That included inherited heart problems, coronary artery disease, hypertension, electrical diseases such as atrial fibrillation and tachycardias. And this result had nothing to do with what kinds of sports were played.
This ratio is indeed lower than the ratio of normal people with cardiovascular disease which is 40-50% in Asia. But this is because this proportion has eliminated patients with cardiovascular diseases caused by high blood pressure, high blood lipids, and high blood sugar. After all, because of sports habits, athletes generally have fewer of these problems. Looking at this data again, in fact, Olympic athletes and normal people have almost the same probability of suffering from cardiovascular disease.
Although not all abnormal results will cause immediate results. But due to the intensity of exercise, athletes with underlying cardiovascular disease may even be more likely to die suddenly than normal people. Despite this, only FIFA and UCI have implemented a periodical health evaluation program for their elite athletes. In order to protect athletes from potential risks, I believe that regular health checks must be the future trend all over the world.
What does a cardiovascular disease have to do with us?
As you can see above, although athletes and ours have almost the same rate of cardiovascular disease, don’t forget, none of them have . This is the main reason why most people are unhealthy or dead!
Imagine that when you are watching the Olympics, your blood pressure rises due to emotional excitement. And because of atherosclerosis and thrombosis, this may cause you to have a sudden stroke. So, the most important thing for us is to avoid this biggest cause of death through exercise and dietary adjustments. Of course, health products, like nattokinase, are also very important for cardiovascular diseases. It’s like pre-workout for a bodybuilder which can help you to have better performance in daily life.
By the way, do you watch the Olympics? Did your favorite athlete win? Comment below and let us know!