All I have to say is WOW! Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge with the other readers. I'm sure they'll find much value out of it.

Also I did write this article when the news was pretty fresh and plan on doing a few updates on it as we know more and more about what happened to Jackson.

But once again I would like to thank you for your amazing input.

I do agree with the majority of this article, especially relating to simple lifestyle changes that can add up to helping someone achieve better long term health.

The part of “heart attack” was very misleading and the 20 year old comment (as they are still considered pediatrics until 21 in most specialty children's health care systems) was also partially wrong as many children with heart disease are now living full lives well past 20.

I will definitely agree that most 20 year olds do not have slightest clue how to take care of themselves and care much more about their gadgets, not so much about their future health. We do have some significantly overweight 20 year old boys and girls but almost all of these are not at immediate risk for a myocardial infarction. Most heart-related interventions on a 20 year old patient is congenital or acquired by rheumatic fever, etc.

You need to understand the huge difference between these terms.

Cardiac arrest is caused by an arrhythmia that causes the heart to stop beating normally, which results in death if CPR and other prompt interventions such as defibrillation are not started within minutes.

Heart attack (aka myocardial infarction) is when an artery called the coronary arteries, which surround the heart muscle to keep that muscle rejuvenated with oxygenated blood, is unable to continue to provide the heart muscle with such vital resources effectively. The cause for a heart attack might be existing plaque called atherosclerosis that “bursted” and caused inflammation within the artery, which leads to a thrombus (blood clot). After a blood clot occurs, the heart muscle can not get blood fast enough and tissue damage starts within minutes. This is a heart attack.

Many different kinds of people are at risk for cardiac arrest, not just people with coronary artery disease, which Michael Jackson may of not even had.

This could of very well been related to a certain dosage of medication, not so much his current lifestyle. Nobody knows at this point.

Also, some children start to develop lifestyle-related vascular problems much earlier than what was previously known. However, heart disease in children is largely congenital (meaning at birth) and is no reflection on their lifestyle. When it is acquired heart disease in children they often have acquired it from an infection or other reasons that are not caused by their day-to-day lives. Even though rare, heart attacks in pediatrics can occur from congenital reasons also.

I am not saying that we don't have an obesity problem with children in this country and the critical need for more time exercising daily, but I just needed to point out that these overweight children may have high blood pressure and high blood cholesterol early on in life and that is setting them up for future significant coronary artery disease, but we must realize that for many children heart disease is not their fault.

wow..I thought the opposite, but I guess we'll all find out what happened when they get the autopsy done..

Jonas
http//www.NolaTrainer.com