The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has released the results of a national survey to determine US prevalence of heart disease. The 2005 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) study (published in 2007) is the first to collect data by state, allowing a regional analysis of heart disease prevalence and risk factors. They show that some states display much higher rates of heart disease than others (higher rates in Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, West Virginia, and Puerto Rico) and that education level plays a significant role in heart disease (the lower a person's education, the higher their chance of being diagnosed with heart disease).

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What you need to know - Conventional View

• The term "heart disease" can refer to either myocardial infarction (MI, or "heart attack") or anginal/coronary heart disease (CHD). Between the two, heart disease has been the US's leading cause of death for 80 years.

• The direct and indirect costs associated with coronary heart disease in the US are projected to be more than $150 billion in 2007.

• The BRFSS was conducted by telephone. Respondents over the age of 18 were asked if a doctor had ever told them that they had experienced MI or CHD, and information was collected on their age, ethnicity/race, sex, education and residence location.

• 6.5 percent of respondents reported having experienced MI or CHD. Men had a significantly higher rate of occurrence than women for both conditions. The risk of heart disease increased with age and decreased with education level, and was Guangzhou massage highest among respondents of native or multiracial descent.

• The study's results may have been skewed by its reliance on land-line telephones and voluntary participation, and its exclusion of those in prisons, mental hospitals, nursing homes or other institutions.

What you need to know - Alternative View

Statements and opinions by Mike Adams

• Heart disease remains one of the largest preventable causes of disease and death in the United States. Hundreds of thousands of patients are needlessly dying each year from a health condition that is easily prevented using natural methods.

• Conventional medicine continues to attack and criticize nearly all natural prevention or treatment protocols for heart disease, denying patients access to information about natural cures that really work.

• Heart disease is Chinese massage an enormous profit center for doctors, surgeons and drug companies. It is not in the financial interests of anyone in conventional medicine to actually teach prevention. Our modern "sick care" system actually depends on continued heart disease for recurring revenues and profits.

• Heart disease is caused by consuming things like fried foods, processed foods, animal fats, dairy products and avoiding exercise or smoking cigarettes. It is prevented by consuming raw foods, fresh produce, superfoods, antioxidants and engaging in regular physical exercise while avoiding environmental toxins. Heart disease is primarily a nutritional disease that can be reversed by altering dietary choices.

Resources you need to know

• Naturopathic physician Dr. Decker Weiss has helped thousands of patients reverse heart disease using safe, natural protocols requiring no drugs or surgery. He documents his clinical success and treatment strategies in The Weiss Method, a book that teaches consumers how to prevent or reverse heart disease.

Bottom line

• Unless conventional medicine starts teaching prevention, heart disease is likely to remain the top killer in the United States.

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