A-fib: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of detection!

Dear Reader,

The new watch from Apple is being called the most amazing device to ever be invented.

But some doctors are saying “not so fast!” This high-tech gizmo might be doing you much more harm than good.

Not too long ago, watches were pretty simple — they all basically did the same thing.

This one, however, has received clearance from the FDA as a medical device that you wear on your wrist. It can monitor your vital signs and detect an erratic heart rhythm called a-fib!

Yikes! Imagine the panic mode it would put you in if your watch suddenly announced: “You may have a heart condition!”

But here’s the $60,000 question: Should you plunk down around $500 to be able to get a “diagnosis by watch,” as one expert has called it?

The Apple Watch is a classic case of how if you’re looking for something, you’re probably going to find it.

A-fib is actually very common — in fact, more people in the U.S. go “offbeat” with it than any other type of abnormal heart rhythm.

For example, researchers discovered last year that 1 in 3 seniors tested over the course of 18 months has an occurrence of a-fib.

At the beginning of the study, none of the volunteers had been diagnosed with it… but the longer they were monitored, the more likely they were to be detected with occasional episodes.

And a-fib is one of the most common knee-jerk reasons why seniors are put on incredibly risky blood thinners.

But why is it so widespread?

Here’s a very good reason: For some time now, it’s been known that the food additive MSG can spark this abnormal heart rhythm by raising blood levels of glutamate.

Even the American Heart Association admits that it’s a “common trigger!”

What happens is that eating foods with MSG can short-circuit your heart’s electrical system. And that’s especially a threat if you’re low on magnesium.

Despite that, MSG is added to everything from soup to nuts. And for many people, it only takes a tiny bit to affect their heart.

But since the FDA allows food manufacturers to call it by different names, you need to know exactly what you’re looking for.

So, along with dodging MSG itself, you want to avoid:

• anything “hydrolyzed” (such as a “hydrolyzed protein”),
• soy protein (including soy protein concentrate and soy protein isolate),
• sodium caseinate,
• autolyzed yeast, and
• yeast extract.

To Keeping the Beat,

Melissa Young