Peter wrote:
Most people, when you say “veg”, think of lettuce, which is mostly water
Most people when you say “veg” think peas, beans, cauliflower, carrot, broccoli, beetroot, brussel sprouts etc. at least in the UK and USA (and in the UK, this traditionally meant also boiled until tasteless, fortunately this practise has become rare). I don’t think I’ve ever met a single person in the UK or USA who thinks “lettuce” when you say “veg”. Lettuce is salad.
I’m still unsure what you mean by a “plant based diet”, by the way you describe it, it’s vegetarian.
“Do you take students canteen/health for benchmark?”
I was diagnosed with malnutrition at the end of my first year at Aberdeen University. Prescribed vitamin pills. Probably good as I was careful with my diet from then on.
I was diagnosed with malnutrition at the end of my first year at Aberdeen University
I think a lot of us could have been 
At Sussex Univ, 1975-78, I lived on £5/week. Corn flakes, toast, pancakes. Rent was extra; another £5/week.
Our generations probably have a better life expectancy than the subsequent ones.
An old friend of mine unexpectedly died in his sleep a few days ago at age 57. Starting in his teens he had eaten poorly, resulting in him being much overweight 25 years ago. He then lost 100 lbs or 45 Kg over a relatively short period and became a trim, active cyclist, eating well and keeping fit ever since. Despite this he apparently died of advanced heart disease and one wonders if the arterial blockages were established many years ago and nonreversible.
As this shows, you can reverse it, but it needs a very strict diet, for a year or two. It’s quite hard.
Incidentally, I heard that if you are a pilot who lost his medical to some “bunged up heart arteries” issue, this method cannot be used. The only way the CAAs will accept is via surgery (stent or bypass). Seems strange…
Cardiologists here talk of the secret killer. It refers to a condition which is not easily detected. For instance you can have as many ECGs as you like but it probably won’t show up but neither will it show up on blood tests through dopplers or echographies.
I was lucky, my father had a stent inserted and the doctor advised him that if he had any sons that they should get tested. I had been having annual checks and ECGs with an AME and as far as he was concerned I was in perfect health. However I went to my GP and explained what my father’s doctor had said and over the next few months I went through all sorts of scans and tests. There was nothing untoward I was in perfect health. After the tests I went to the cardiologist expecting a clean bill of health. She looked at all the tests and said there was nothing showing a problem except that she felt my cholestrol was a little high.It was actually normal except when she factored in the risk brought about by my father having needed a stent. So she wanted me to get it down to under “1” and also decided I should have an effort test. During the test, ever now and again she asked me if I had any pain and I said no except for a little in my legs having not cycled much over many years.
At the end of the test she said she wanted me to have a “coronography” a type of heart scan that I do not know the word for in English.
I asked if there was a problem and her answer was that she didn’t know but there was something showing up that she was unhappy about.
During the coronography they found severe lesions on my coronary artery and I needed a double by pass.
The severity of the problem was brought home to me on my first visit to the specialist heart surgeon who would supervise my operation. He looked at my dossier and I’ll never forget his words “I see you have severe heart disease.”
After the operation, rehabilitation etc. and on the first of what is now an annua visit to my cardiologist I thanked her form basically saving my life. She admitted that the severity of the problem had surprised even her, she told me that they called it the secret killer, and basically I could have just dropped dead at any time over the last 40 or more years. Fortunately I am clear to fly again now but remain one of the most monitored pilots in France.
gallois wrote:
a “coronography” a type of heart scan that I do not know the word for in English.
An Echo.
That is some story and I am glad you have resolved the issues. Well done.
What most people do not appreciate is that the heart is a pump. Nothing more, nothing less. Like our aeroplane engines the pump to work must have the correct electrical signals, clear passages for blood and fluid, and attachments all working.
If the pump stops, that is it. Finale
That sounds like the ultrasonic scan, with atropine injection to make the heart run very fast.
More chance of a heart attack than with the nuclear perfusion scan, but it is cheaper and avoids the risk of getting cancer. The crazy things we pilots do to keep flying
Peter wrote:
The crazy things we pilots do to keep flying
Oh you should see what technical divers do to keep diving
Gallois did not mean an Echocardiography. Both @BeechBaby and @Peter are wrong here. It has nothing to do with ultrasound, what was meant was probably a coronary angiography:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cardiac_catheterization
An ultrasound of the heart cannot detect stenosis in the coronary vessels (“bunged up arteries”, to use Peter’s term), unless the stenosis already led to a myocardial infraction before.
Coronary angiography, on the other hand, can detect even minor stenosis with great precision. It is an invasive procedure though, because a catheter needs to be inserted into the heart, usually through the femoral or brachial artery. It has a very small risk of causing a stroke or rupture of blood vessels (very big risk in pilot terms, because pilots usually tend to worry the most about unlikely events…).
The great thing about hearth catheter labs is that they can not only diagnose you, but treat your condition at the same time: This is how stents are placed. If you have a higher order of coronary heart disease, you may need open heart surgery (bypass surgery), however, as catheterization is inferior if many arteries are “bunged up” simultaneously.
