The death rate among young American husbands under forty, has been characterized by Dr. Henry L. Russek, of the United States Public Health Service, with the well turned phrase, "The Gray Flannel Coffin." Dr. Russek highlighted the plight of the ambitious young business man trying to "keep up with the Jonses." He carefully pointed out that they should watch their fat intake; but he dwelled on pressures by which they are met in trying to succeed.
Without doubt, the coronary menace seems to be spearheaded by one directive: TARGET: MEN!
Today, statistically, women have an average life span that is greater than that of men.
Here is the shocking picture. Up to age 40, twenty-four times as many men as women suffer from coronary attacks. From 40 to 50, five times as many men are hit by coronary attacks. From 50 to 60, it is still two-to-one, but from then on it begins to even out. This is entirely different from what it used to be, but healthy eating and good heart care might bring back this one phase of the "good old days," when widow-making didn't proceed with a headlong rush.
As far as our public health records go, it seems that, at least for the last hundred years, American women have always lived longer than their men. Statistics on the length of life before the year 1870 are very sparse and fragmentary, but some figures assembled in 1850 indicate that even at that time, the average life span of American women was two years longer than that of American men. It is to this much better ratio of longevity that we confidently aim to return.
There can be no doubt that women are biologically stronger than men. In all the animal and insect worlds, the female outlives the male. But let's take the records of the last hundred years, and grant that women, biologically, have a two-year edge.
They are that much hardier than men.
The more you examine all of our mortality figures, the more you will be forced to agree that if by some measure we could help men to escape the ravages of coronary disease in the same degree that women do, we could hope to lengthen the average male life span by as much as four years.
We would surely decrease the frightful rate of widow-making that goes on in the United States. Today we are literally and actually mass-producing widows, and the rate has been creeping up every year.
The chances are that your husband's cholesterol reading will be much higher than it should be. The up-to-date doctor will do the lecturing for you, and order your husband to eat less fats.
Dr. Paul Dudley White, along with other heart specialists, has given us some thought-provoking figures:
If your husband has a high cholesterol level, along with high blood pressure, his chances of suffering a coronary attack are three times greater than they would be if "cholesterol" and blood pressure are normal.
If your husband is overweight, the likelihood of his being hit by a coronary attack is multiplied two-and-a-half times.
If a man has all three of the above handicaps, his coronary risk is fourteen times greater than normal. Think of that in the light of these three facts:
1. No man has to be overweight. He can rid himself of pounds with exercise and diet.
2. No man has to have a high cholesterol level. Heart saver eating, exercise, the avoidance of mental and emotional stress can bring it down.
3. High blood pressure can almost always be lowered with the new
wonder drugs which have been developed. Comparatively few cases of certain refractory types resist present day medication, and these soon may be brought under control.
The average, run-of-the-mill cases of high blood pressure may be checked by even more simple measures, such as a low-sodium diet and better living habits; mainly mental and emotional control.
If Mrs. America, by some magic, could get husband, aged thirty, to see his doctor once a year for a medical check-up and a cholesterol test, she would at once strike widow-making a telling blow. If she, here and now, put heart saver eating and cooking into effect in her home, she would go a long, long way toward protecting her husband from coronary attack.
Statistics serve a very good purpose if they can shock us into taking preventive steps. According to mortality figures compiled by Dr. Norman Jolliffe, we can estimate that of the 40 million husbands now living, up to 21 million will die of heart and artery disease. The latest statistics would indicate clearly that three-quarters of all deaths from heart disease are caused by coronary changes. Thus, it can be calculated that at least 16 million of the deaths among husbands, in the days ahead, will be caused by the various results of atherosclerosis.
Men are the special targets for coronary disease, because women are physiologically favored in the matter of handling hard fats during their menstrual years. In theory, this is due to the action of certain female hormones which help to regulate the cholesterol chemistry of the blood.
From fourteen until the early forties, women enjoy a measure of immunity to coronary disease, perhaps as an aid or concession to child-bearing. This privilege is lost, however, after menopause. From then on, women are as susceptible as men.
As a matter of fact, there is statistical evidence that women are beginning to lose some of this specially privileged standing. Since 1940, female death rates from coronary disease have been creeping up, as compared to men. Some point out that more women are working, and running into the tensions associated with business. Others stress the fact that many women are less active physically, with dozens of labor-saving gadgets to do their housework, and automobiles to take them off their feet. Increased smoking by women has been implicated. No doubt all these factors play a part.
There is only one thing we can be sure of. Women, like men, are enjoying the fruits of the national prosperity that has been ours since the beginning of World War I. Too, women have been eating hard fats in ever-increasing amounts. Even if we credit them with a better ability to handle hard fats, they too have to suffer when they abuse the privilege. Female coronary and apoplexy death rates are going to continue to go up-and up-and up-until women get their cholesterol levels checked, and at the first sign of trouble, adopt healthy eating.
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