- Data from 2000 to 2016 revealed rising numbers of people aged 50 years and younger were having heart attacks. Many of those younger than 40 had a lower rate of hypertension than their older counterparts, but their long-term outcomes were similar
- Outside of the medical literature, a 2023 National Geographic article appears to equate the rising number of athlete deaths from cardiac arrest to the increasing number of young adults with heart attacks resulting from a lack of oxygen supply to the heart muscle
- Cardiologist Dr. Peter McCullough notes that a surge of adrenaline can trigger cardiac death in those with myocarditis. One natural surge happens between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m., which corresponds with many cases of people who have died in their sleep, and the other happens during athletic activity
- During an interview in January 2023, just days after Damar Hamlin went into cardiac arrest on the football field, McCullough discussed the rising number of elite and well-conditioned athletes who have experienced cardiac arrest during practices or games
- Although the Big Ten schools began a rigorous testing program for myocarditis before the COVID shot, they dropped the program and didn’t reinstate it despite regulatory agencies publicly stating the shot, which all programs mandated for athletes, caused myocarditis in young men, and guidelines before COVID forbade players with myocarditis to play
Data1 have revealed that more people are having heart attacks, and that more of those people are younger than 50 years. This is notable as this trend appears to have started well before COVID-19.
Your heart is about the size of your fist and beats roughly 100,000 times every day. This little muscle pumps about eight pints of blood through your circulatory system. The heart has three layers: The endocardium is a thin layer that lines the four chambers; the pericardium is a thin layer that surrounds the heart; the myocardium is the muscle in the middle that pumps blood.
Your heart also has a unique electrical system, the function of which is to stimulate the heart to beat. Each of these factors and more must work together so that oxygen and nutrients are delivered to your body. When things don’t work right, it’s called heart disease, which is the leading cause of death in men and women.
Increasing Heart Attacks in Young Adults Began Before COVID
In the 2019 study,2 researchers evaluated 2,097 consecutive patients who were 50 years old or younger and admitted with a Type 1 myocardial infarction (heart attack). The data revealed that 20.5% of the patients were 40 years old or younger. When data from those patients were compared with older counterparts, they had similar risk profiles with two exceptions. The younger individuals had a higher rate of substance use but a lower rate of hypertension.
The patients were followed up for a median of 11.2 years and the researchers concluded that despite being approximately 10 years younger with a lower prevalence of hypertension, the “very young myocardial infarction patients had similar one-year and long-term outcomes when compared with those aged 41 to 50 years at the time of their index infarction.”3
In other words, despite the advantage of age, their long-term outcomes were the same as those who were 10 years older. A 20234 opinion piece in JAMA also identified a growing number of adults 40 years and younger with premature heart attacks. The data show that the numbers of heart attacks in this age group have been increasing by 2% every year. The commenters believe the rising prevalence is related to cardiovascular risk factors, such as obesity and hypertension.
The authors caution that the data reveal an “urgent need to refocus cardiovascular disease prevention efforts on young adults.” This trend is also being reported outside of medical literature. A 2023 article5 in National Geographic notes there is a rising number of young adults with cardiovascular disease leading to heart attacks.
In a confusing juxtaposition of facts, the National Geographic article appears to equate the rising number of athlete deaths from cardiac arrest to the increasing number of young adults with heart attacks. The article mentions the cardiac arrest that 18-year-old Bronny James, son of NBA star LeBron James, experienced during basketball practice at the University of Southern California.
The writer then states that cardiac arrest is different, but that it can be caused by several conditions, such as “cardiomyopathy (thickened heart muscle), heart failure, arrhythmias (irregular heartbeat) and, yes, heart attacks.” While technically correct that a heart attack can trigger cardiac arrest, during which the heart stops beating, it is very rare for highly trained athletes to have health conditions that trigger a heart attack and then cardiac arrest.
The article then lists some of the biggest risk factors for heart disease at a younger age, including “high blood pressure, diabetes, high cholesterol and obesity, all of which can clog and damage the arteries and blood vessels that carry oxygen-rich blood to the heart.”6 Finally, there are two paragraphs about COVID-19 and heart health, concluding, “However, it’s still not clear why younger adults appear to be more vulnerable to COVID’s cardiovascular complications.”
Rising Athlete Deaths Linked to Abnormal Electrical Events
No mention is made in the National Geographic article of the thousands who have had heart attacks or myocarditis from the COVID shot.7 In June 2021,8 the FDA acknowledged that Pfizer and Moderna COVID-19 shots increase the risk for myocarditis and pericarditis.
According to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS),9 as of July 28, 2023, there were 27,343 cases of myocarditis or pericarditis, 20,505 heart attacks and 35,726 deaths, all connected with the COVID shots.
One year after the shot was released, a January 2022 JAMA study10 of 192,405,448 persons, concluded “… the risk of myocarditis after receiving mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccines was increased across multiple age and sex strata and was highest after the second vaccination dose in adolescent males and young men. This risk should be considered in the context of the benefits of COVID-19 vaccination.”
Then, in May 2023,11 a Yale University press release called the 27,000-plus cases of myocarditis reported to VAERS “rare” events. During an interview with Peter Sweden,12 cardiologist Dr. Peter McCullough describes the relationship between myocarditis and abnormal electrical events in the heart that lead to cardiac arrest.
“Here’s the relationship: the COVID-19 vaccines cause myocarditis, the FDA and all the regulatory agencies agree. Now as a cardiologist, I can tell you if somebody has myocarditis, we can’t let them play sports because the surge of adrenaline will trigger a cardiac arrest.
Our guidelines before COVID said don’t let somebody with myocarditis play sports. So now athletes have taken the vaccine, they’re developing myocarditis, they’re playing sports and for some unfortunate ones, it triggers a cardiac death. This is a straightforward relationship. This is not controversial.”
McCullough also notes that there are two times when there is a natural surge of adrenaline or epinephrine.13 One of those is between 3 a.m. and 6 a.m. in the morning, which corresponds with the many cases of people who have died in their sleep from sudden cardiac death. The second normal surge is during athletic activity.
Accountability and Transparency Have Been Lost
McCullough was interviewed by Children’s Health Defense TV14 in January 2023, just after Damar Hamlin, a football player for the Buffalo Bills, experienced a cardiac arrest on the field. At the start of the interview, he discusses a recent paper15 in which he and his colleague found a significant increase in cardiac arrests after the release of the COVID shot.
“Recently I published with Dr. [Panagis] Polykretis from Europe, that before COVID-19 vaccine the average number of cardiac arrests in all of the European soccer and football leagues, which is way more players than the NFL, the average number of cardiac arrests were 29 per year, that’s before the vaccines.
The vaccines were ushered in in 2021 and since that time the tally now for cardiac arrest on the field with professional sports players in Europe is 1598; 1101 of them have been fatal cases.”
McCullough goes on to discuss myocarditis with interviewer Aimee McBride. He notes that in more than half the cases, there is no initial presentation and there are no symptoms, although scarring is visible on MRI. The scar that forms on the heart is the setup for an abnormal electrical rhythm that can lead to sudden adult death syndrome. In his initial analysis of the playback,16 McCullough rules out several conditions, among them commotio cordis.
Commotio cordis is a condition that can trigger cardiac arrest when the breastbone (sternum) is struck in just the right place. As McCullough describes, football gear protects the breastbone and while this condition is seen 20 to 30 times a year in baseball players, it has not been seen in NFL players, likely because of the protective gear they wear.
McCullough and McBride expressed hope that the case of Damar Hamlin would open the floodgates and create a situation in which the “silence and gaslighting” about the safety of the vaccine would come to an end because Hamlin’s event was publicized on national television, or “the world stage,” as McBride put it. In the past, an athlete’s vaccine history was silenced, but since the NFL mandated the shot, it was hoped this event would be enough to trigger an investigation.
Unfortunately, their hope was in vain as Hamlin announced in April 2023,17 that his condition was caused by commotio cordis, with no mention of his vaccination status being made in the media, despite the NFL statistics that at least 80% of the athletes took the shot by July 2021, and that some teams had greater than 90% of the players taking the shot.18
In a recent article on Substack,19 McCullough notes two studies, one that conclusively shows the myocarditis induced by the COVID-19 shot can be fatal, and another that found in young people with MRI-confirmed heart damage, there was 58% residual abnormality to the heart after one year — which suggests that the damage is forming a scar on the heart muscle and may be permanent at a year.
Interestingly, of the 40 adolescents (mostly boys) evaluated, 73% had no cardiac symptoms. Without an evaluation, parents would not have known the child had heart damage.
VAERS Likely Doesn’t Show the Whole Picture
McCullough notes20 a 1992 study that demonstrated a coronavirus infection could cause myocarditis in animals. When COVID-19 first appeared in 2020, approximately 30% of the Big Ten athletes got sick. The Big Ten programs instituted testing programs that included EKGs, echocardiograms, MRIs and blood work checking for cardiac troponin. After finding just six players with myocarditis out of the thousands tested, the testing program was abandoned.
Yet, once the vaccine was released and myocarditis became a real problem, the screening programs were not reinstated.
According to McCullough, none of the NFL and college football organizations are using advanced biomarkers to detect athletes with myocarditis, even after mandating that all athletes receive the vaccine and despite knowing the FDA and other regulatory agencies have acknowledged that myocarditis is a very real side effect. McCullough calls this a giant misstep of testing.
The VAERS system is supposed to identify vaccines that trigger an abnormal number of side effects, or lots of shots that cause problems. However, as McCullough notes, you must enter detailed information into VAERS with all the necessary information to file a report, including the vaccine lot number.21 He believes this is a significant reason for underreporting in VAERS, since without the vaccine card associated with that patient, you can’t begin the report.
While anyone can make a report to VAERS — a component that critics use to claim that VAERS can contain errors and even false claims — due to the lengthy and complicated submittal process, adverse events are notoriously under-reported, not over-reported.
- 1, 2, 3 The American Journal of Medicine, 2019;133(5)
- 4 JAMA, 2023; 329 (11)
- 5, 6 National Geographic, August 4, 2023
- 7, 9 OpenVAERS, COVID Data
- 8 CNN, June 26, 2021
- 10 JAMA, 2022;327(4)
- 11 Yale News, May 5, 2023
- 12 Peter Sweden, April 1, 2023
- 13 CHD.TV, January 4, 2023, Min 20:30
- 14 CHD.TV, January 4, 2023, Min 8:50 & 10:50 & 17:30 (in order)
- 15 Scandinavian Journal of Immunology, 2022;e13242
- 16 CHD.TV, January 4, 2023, Min 3:45
- 17 People, April 18, 2023
- 18 NFL News, July 23, 2021
- 19 Courageous Discourse, August 8, 2023
- 20 CHD.TV, January 4, 2023, Min 23
- 21 CHD.TV, January 4, 2023, Min 31:00
Article cross-posted from Dr. Mercola’s site.
Bypass Big Tech Censors
Why Bullion Beats Numismatics and Collectible for Your Safe or IRA
Precious metals continue to attract Americans seeking reliable ways to protect their wealth amid inflation, geopolitical risks, and stock market swings. Whether stored in a home safe or held inside a self-directed IRA, physical gold and silver deliver tangible value that paper or digital assets often lack. Yet investors must choose carefully between bullion—pure bars and coins valued mainly for their metal content—and numismatics or collectibles, where rarity, history, and collector demand heavily influence pricing.
Advisor Bullion serves as a dependable source for straightforward, high-quality bullion. The company specializes in physical gold, silver, platinum, and palladium, emphasizing transparent pricing and products that deliver maximum metal content for every dollar spent. This approach makes it ideal for both personal holdings and retirement accounts.
Bullion consists of refined precious metals in standard forms like one-ounce coins (American Gold Eagles, Silver Eagles, Canadian Maple Leafs) or bars. Their value tracks closely to the current spot price of the metal. A typical gold bullion coin trades near the live gold spot price plus a small premium. This structure keeps costs clear and predictable.
Numismatic coins and collectibles add substantial value from factors such as age, rarity, minting errors, or historical significance. A pre-1933 U.S. gold coin or graded proof piece can carry premiums of 30%, 50%, or even 200% above melt value. While this appeals to hobbyists, it creates complexity. Pricing depends on subjective grading, collector trends, and auction results instead of daily spot prices.
For investors focused on wealth preservation and retirement security rather than building a collection, bullion often delivers better results.
Lower Costs and Better Liquidity for Home Storage
When keeping metals in a home safe or private vault, liquidity and efficiency count. Bullion offers clear benefits:
- You acquire more actual gold or silver per dollar invested. Numismatics divert a large share of your money into rarity premiums and massive sales commission, reducing your metal exposure.
- Selling bullion involves tight bid-ask spreads, so you recover nearly full spot value with minimal fees. Collectibles require finding the right buyer and may sell at a discount if demand for that specific item weakens.
- Bullion prices remain transparent and update with global spot markets. You can track gold near current levels or silver accordingly and know exactly where your holdings stand. Numismatic values are priced by the Gold IRA companies with hefty margins applied.
- Standardized coins and bars store efficiently and divide easily for partial sales. Rare coins often need protective slabs and controlled conditions, adding hassle and expense.
- Bullion enjoys worldwide acceptance. A 1-oz Gold Maple Leaf or Silver Eagle sells quickly to dealers anywhere. Niche numismatic pieces may appeal only to limited buyers, slowing liquidation when speed matters.
In times when quick access to value becomes important, bullion’s simplicity stands out.
Stronger Fit for Precious Metals IRAs
Precious metals IRAs continue gaining traction as investors diversify retirement portfolios beyond stocks and bonds. IRS rules permit certain bullion products in self-directed IRAs if they meet purity standards (.995 fine for gold, .999 for silver) and are held by an approved custodian. Eligible items include American Gold and Silver Eagles plus many generic bars and rounds from recognized mints.
Numismatic and most collectible coins generally face heavy scrutiny from custodians due to valuation disputes and elevated markups. These higher premiums mean less actual metal ends up working inside the account.
Bullion avoids these issues. Its value links directly to verifiable spot prices, which simplifies reporting and lowers the risk of regulatory challenges. More of your IRA contribution purchases real metal instead of dealer profits or speculative upside. Over time, owning additional ounces that appreciate with the metal itself can create meaningful outperformance compared with high-premium alternatives that deliver fewer ounces.
Regulatory guidance from the CFTC and state securities offices repeatedly cautions against aggressive sales of expensive numismatics or “semi-numismatic” coins for IRAs. For retirement planning, transparent bullion from established providers reduces risk and aligns better with long-term goals.
How to Get Started with Bullion
Begin by clarifying your goals. Are you protecting savings in a safe, or moving part of a retirement account into a precious metals IRA? Focus on the number of ounces you can acquire at current prices rather than chasing marked-up collectibles.
Diversify sensibly: use gold for core preservation and silver for its blend of industrial and monetary qualities. Mix coins for easier divisibility with bars for lower per-ounce costs on larger buys. Arrange secure storage—whether at home with proper insurance or through professional facilities.
As economic uncertainties linger and faith in conventional assets erodes, bullion continues proving its worth as a dependable store of value. Its direct approach avoids the hype that sometimes surrounds collectible markets and keeps the focus on the metal itself.
For investors prepared to strengthen their portfolios, Advisor Bullion supplies the expertise and selection needed to acquire high-quality bullion efficiently. Whether building personal holdings or integrating metals into an IRA, their emphasis on transparent, investment-grade products helps secure more ounces today that support greater financial security tomorrow. In a complicated financial landscape, bullion’s clarity and reliability make it the smarter foundation for protecting what matters most.