- DENVER (AP) - An offensive
lineman for the San Francisco 49ers collapsed in the locker room and died
Sunday morning, shortly after the team played the Denver Broncos in a preseason
game.
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- Players had finished listening to coach Mike Nolan address
them in a post-game meeting when Thomas Herrion, a 6-foot-3, 310-pound
first-year player, collapsed. Medics administered CPR on him and took him
to an ambulance that rushed him to a nearby hospital.
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- About three hours later, 49ers spokesman Aaron Salkin
confirmed that Herrion had died. The cause of death was not immediately
known.
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- "This is a colossal tragedy for the 49ers and the
entire NFL community," Salkin said. "We still do not know all
the details. Our thoughts and prayers are with the Herrion family."
-
- The death comes a little more than four years after offensive
lineman Korey Stringer of the Minnesota Vikings died of heatstroke during
a training camp practice on a day during which the heat index soared to
110.
-
- Since Stringer's death, NFL teams have increased their
efforts to teach players about hydration and how to manage the heat, experimenting
with sensors to measure players' core body temperatures.
-
- On Saturday night in Denver, temperatures were in the
mid-60s with 50 percent humidity, although experts say heatstroke can occur
even in cool conditions.
-
- After the game, Nolan said he had no comments about San
Francisco's 26-21 loss to the Broncos.
-
- "There are more important things on our mind than
the game," he said. "Right now, our thoughts and prayers are
with Thomas Herrion."
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- Stringer's death was thought to be the first of its kind
in the NFL. In 1979, St. Louis Cardinals tight end J.V. Cain died of a
heart attack during training camp. Chuck Hughes, a wide receiver for the
Detroit Lions, died of a heart attack Oct. 24, 1972, during a game in Detroit
against the Chicago Bears.
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- This story can be found at:
- http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBXT5AZMCE.html
-
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- Athlete Alert - Aspartame And MSG In Sudden Cardiac Arrest
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- Contributed By Dr. Betty Martini
- Mission Possible International
- BettyM19@mindspring.com
- 8-23-5
-
- Aspartame
-
- Originally Posted At:
http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/4/prwebxml225071.php
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- Neurosurgeon Russell Blaylock, M.D. explains the relationship
between sudden cardiac death, especially in athletes, and excitotoxic damage
produced by food additives and artificial sweeteners.
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- (PRWEB) April 14, 2005 -- Dr. Russell Blaylock, an author
and neurosurgeon, explains the relationship between sudden cardiac death,
especially in athletes, and excitotoxic damage caused by food additives
and artificial sweeteners. -- By Russell L. Blaylock, M.D.
-
- Over 460,000 people annually die of a disorder called
sudden cardiac death, according to CDC statistics. This condition strikes
otherwise healthy people who have experienced no obvious symptoms of heart
disease prior to their abrupt deaths.
-
- An alarming number young athletes are included in these
deaths, in high schools and colleges as well as among professional athletes.
While in some of these individuals cardiologists found evidence of coronary
disease and scars from earlier silent heart attacks, there is one mechanism
that's getting no attention at all: the excitotoxin damage caused by food
additives and the artificial sweetener aspartame. This is despite growing
evidence that the excitotoxic mechanism plays a major role in cardiac disease.
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- Previously, it was thought that excitotoxic food additives,
such as monosodium glutamate and aspartic acid in aspartame, cause their
damage in the cardiovascular centers in the brain stem and/or by over-stimulating
sympathetic centers in the hypothalamus of the brain. Both mechanisms have
resulted in sudden cardiac death in experimental animals.
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- A particularly deadly combination occurs in young athletes:
Low magnesium intake, high calcium intake, low intake of omega-3 fatty
acids and excitotoxins in food additives. Strenuous exercise, especially
in extreme heat, depletes the body's magnesium stores, as does consumption
of carbonated drinks and taking calcium supplements. Also adrenalin secretion,
increased during exercise, intensifies heart muscle irritability and further
loss of magnesium as well. When calcium supplements are taken in the face
of an existing magnesium deficiency, both magnesium and calcium are driven
into the bones, producing a sudden magnesium-depletion crisis.
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- Low magnesium produces seizures and causes sudden cardiac
arrest. In a classic experiment it was found that stressing magnesium-deficient
animals resulted in an almost 100% mortality from sudden cardiac arrest.
Adding magnesium reduced mortality dramatically. A considerable body of
evidence has shown that low omega-3 fat intake significantly increases
the risk and severity of cardiac arrhythmias, the main cause of sudden
cardiac death.
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- A number of studies have shown that Americans are significantly
deficient in these protective fats. Finally, recent research has shown
that the brain is not the only tissue having glutamate receptors. Numerous
glutamate receptors have been found both within the heart's electrical
conduction system and the heart muscle itself.
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- When an excess of food-borne excitotoxins, such as MSG,
hydrolyzed protein soy protein isolate and concentrate, natural flavoring,
sodium caseinate and aspartate from aspartame, are consumed, these glutamate
receptors are over-stimulated, producing cardiac arrhythmias. When magnesium
stores are low, as we see in athletes, the glutamate receptors are so sensitive
that even low levels of these excitotoxins can result in cardiac arrhythmias
and death.
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- This is especially so when combined with the other factors
mentioned. Under such condition, free radicals and lipid eroxidation products
build up within the muscle cells, leading to the same outcome.
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- High consumption of aspartame adds an additional cardiac
muscle toxin: methanol. A number of studies have shown that consuming aspartame
and MSG (and similar excitotoxins) together greatly magnifies the toxicity.
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- Young people live on junk foods, most of which contain
a number of excitotoxic additives. Several studies have shown that the
levels consumed by our youth equal those that cause damage in experimental
animals. Humans are 5X more sensitive to these toxins than any animal.
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- The same factors operate in older individuals. Most people
over age 50 years are depleted of magnesium, have low omega-3 fat intakes,
are under stress and take a number of medications which compromise nutrition,
especially magnesium levels. Because seniors are more likely to have coronary
artery disease plus other medical conditions, their risk of sudden cardiac
death is even higher.
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- Both athletes and those over age 45 should take magnesium
supplements, antioxidants, omega-3 oils, eat more vegetables and avoid
foods and artificial sweeteners containing excitotoxins such as aspartame
and MSG. This accomplishes a lot more than attempting to rescue a victim
with an external defibrillator after the fact.
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- Dr. Blaylock's web site is http://www.russellblaylockmd.com.
He is author of "Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills and Health &
Nutrition Secrets to Save Your Life." He can be seen in the movie
on aspartame, "Sweet Misery: A Poisoned World." http://www.docworkers.com
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- Case histories now being taken on aspartame and brain
tumors from New York, New Jersey, Illinois and Mississippi in the last
three years. Send to BettyM19@mindspring.com Also, The FDA blamed deaths
on ephedra and removed it from the market. The FDA records on ephedra were
reviewed by the renowned neuroscientist Dr. John Olney who founded the
field of neuroscience called excitotoxicity and tried to prevent the approval
of aspartame and said ephedra is safe.http://www.wnho.net
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- In the movie, "Sweet Misery," Diane Fleming
is interviewed from prison. Her husband, an aspartame addict, who played
basketball several times a week, died and she was charged with his death.
Several experts have written affidavits that Charles Fleming died from
aspartame.
-
- http://www.wnho.net/aspartamenews.htm
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- Dr. Betty Martini
- Founder, Mission Possible International
- 9270 River Club Parkway
- Duluth, Georgia 30097
- 770-242-2599
- http://www.dorway.com
-
- Aspartame Toxiocity Center: http://www.holisticmed.com/aspartame
- Aspartame Information List: http://www.wnho.net
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