Are We Exercising To Death?

October 19, 2009 — DETROIT – Autopsies are expected after three half-marathoners died during the Detroit marathon. According to the officials:

• 36-year-old Daniel Langdon collapsed about 9:02 am  Sunday between the 11- and 12-mile markers.

• 65-year-old Rick Brown collapsed at 9:17 am  near where Langdon went down.

• 26-year-old Jon Fenlon collapsed at about 9:18 am just after finishing the 13.1-mile half-marathon in 1:53:37.

An autopsy is planned but do we ever learn the cause of death?

No because the medical profession relies on a blood test for magnesium. To determine intracellular magnesium levels, a different test is required – an intracellular or tissue test. (The body will pull magnesium from muscle to satisfy blood requirements.)

During his lengthy clinical career, the late Dr. Robert Atkins routinely ordered intracellular magnesium testing and found that 9 out of 10 of his patients were deficient. The most likely cause of sudden death during marathons (or basketball games):  deficient intracellular magnesium.

We are told to exercise, emphasize carbohydrates, and take calcium. Carbohydrate metabolism uses up magnesium and strenuous exercise causes magnesium excretion. Too much calcium and not enough magnesium causes stones, deposits and calcification of soft tissue – like veins and arteries.

“Exercise, exercise, exercise…”

Dr. William Campbell Douglas, MD, says the over emphasis on exercise in the official Dietary Guidelines is dangerous. Dr. Douglas sites research from New York University Medical Center that suggests that the more you engage in vigorous exercise, the greater your risk of atrial fibrillation (AF), a condition characterized by irregular rapid heart rate. The consequences of atrial fibrillation include lethal heart attack or stroke.

The current culture of physical exercise as the path to weight loss began in the early 1970s. Is there any evidence that exercise promotes weight loss? No says Gary Taubes, author of Good Calories, Bad Calories. In his definitive book, Taubes evaluates decades of conflicting science, including the lengthy review of various obesity treatments conducted in 1960 by epidemiologist Alvan Feinstein, published in the Journal of Diseases. Feinstein concluded:

“There has been ample demonstration that exercise is an ineffective method of increasing energy output.”

Feinstein noted, “It takes far too much activity to burn up enough calories for significant weight loss. In addition, physical exertion may evoke a desire for food so that the subsequent intake of calories may exceed what was lost during exercise.” As Taubes writes, “When we are physically active, we work up an appetite. Hunger increases in proportion to the calories we expend … The evidence suggests that this is true for both the fat and the lean.”

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