The picture of the child with ......................  bothers me.. (changed the text)

I had donated one full surgery, only to be contacted over and over about more kids in need.. I think I am getting to the point of thinking that once they figure out how to collect money they do not stop..

There can not be that many kids, and there would not be enough volunteer doctors time to fix all the numbers for which money is collected...

as for the 97% .. I could not read it..  with the picture next to it..

Yeah, I wish there was some way to close the picture while reading the article. At times I've put a post-it note on my monitor to block really distracting pictures when reading the rest of a web page, or opened up another program such as notepad (or another internet window, kept small) to block it.

This article isn't about "having healthy hearts." It's about "Having the right answers for all 7 risk factors asked about in a phone survey." It really bothers me that "healthy weight" was defined by BMI. I'm short and have very large  bone structure. At my "ideal, healthy weight" I'm just BARELY in the "healthy weight" category. At just 4 pounds overweight, I'm in the "overweight" category. And if i put in my actual height of 5'1", rather than my "maximum adult height" of 5'2", I'm in the "overweight" category even if I'm at my healthiest weight. Meanwhile, somebody with a more slender build could be 10 pounds overweight before leaving the "healthy weight" category.

very strange but I don't have that same picture as you both do.  I'm seeing an ad for weight
loss surgery.

Do you both use AOL? (I don't)

I find it interesting that their study says that people can be more or less at risk based upon geographic location. We in the U.S. live in a very transitive society where many people continually move for one reason or another (my family is one of them). Certainly, different cultures of the world will have different heart disease rates due to cultural eating norms or climate.

Goldie and Ruth, I don't know what image kept popping up on the above link because I didn't see what you were describing. Goldie, please be careful though about how you word statements about cleft children and organizations that perform cleft surgery. As a mother of an adopted special needs child with a repaired cleft lip and palate, combined with my long-term knowledge of the adoption industry, I can tell you for certain that there is a tremendous need for all cleft children around the world to get these much needed surgeries and the organizations such as Smile Train and Operation Smile to receive donations. I will not waste time or space telling you all the reasons why I know this because people are viewing this thread to comment on heart disease.

It's linked to poor thyroid functioning due to environmental pollution and xenoestrogens (estrogen shuts off thyroid); low functioning thyroid raises bad cholesterol.

YES..       YES, I am in favor of the surgey or I would not have supported it.. Its the incessant fundraising that is what I questioned.. IN my book surgery to improve many looks and health issues should be A GIVEN in any decent society that values all human beings..  

Countries where they have healthcare, that surgery is A GIVEN...  

I didn't see it either, Chloe. No sign of it. Did any of you see the note from someone saying their tryglicerides were over 700! Wow and more wow! A forty year old woman.

I have more than a few bones to pick with the AHA. For years everyone has been told to use margarine instead of butter and not to ever even touch coconut or palm oil. Almost every doctor thinks if you're a diabetic that you should be on cholesterol and blood pressure medication whether you need it or not.

Well sorry to say they don't. My mother has been diabetic for about 15 to 20 years now that we know for sure, but she of all people does not need these drugs. When she started using butter and coconut oil more than a year ago her triglycerides went way down to 125 from 200. Her cardiologist was in disbelief when we told her that mom eats butter and coconut oil along with a few other no-nos. An arteriogram reveals that she has no blockages in her coronary arteries what so ever despite being diabetic. But then mom is a type O nonnie gatherer who has the so called "apple" body type. OTOH I know some pear types who have much worser lipid numbers than mom does. Just goes to show nobody is the same regardless of their body type.

In fact, I know some very fat people who do not have high sugar,cholesterol, triglycerides or diabetes despite their morbid ( or possibly not) obesity.

I am going to buy some tomorrow.. I need something to get me on track.. THANKS!!!!

Quoted from 19086[b

]I find it interesting that their study says that people can be more or less at risk based upon geographic location. We in the U.S. live in a very transitive society where many people continually move for one reason or another (my family is one of them). Certainly, different cultures of the world will have different heart disease rates due to cultural eating norms or climate.[/b]

Actually, I do not find this at all surprising.  I just moved from a small town with a highly educated population to a small city with a more mixed population and I am shocked at the number of people I see smoking here,  In my former town, you would have practically been shunned if you smoked.  Also, my husband grew up in another state.  When we go back to visit his family, I am always surprised at how overweight the general population seems and how many people smoke.  They also eat stuff I had never heard of and is very unhealthy.  I think food and personal habits can vary from town to town, never mind city to city, state to state or country to country.