Every 40 seconds someone in the U.S. has a stroke. Every four minutes someone in the U.S. dies of a stroke. Seven million Americans have to live with the consequences of a stroke. Most of them are permanently disabled. Most can’t walk. Some can’t talk. Some are blind. Some can’t remember anything.

We doctors call strokes cerebrovascular accidents. However, there is nothing “accidental” about them. A stroke means that part of your brain has died because the artery that feeds it has clogged up or started to leak. The area may heal slightly, but once part of your brain has died, it is irreversible.

Strokes are a lifestyle disease. Smoking, heavy alcohol use, eating meat and dairy animal foods, eating junk processed foods and lack of exercise are the causes of this horrible epidemic.

This is a public health crisis that is being ignored.

Gordon LaBedz

Kekaha, Kauai

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