My hypothesis is that sugary foods will affect people of a higher age like around 60-70 year olds (seniors) more that other people of different ages because of high blood pressure and obesity which can cause heart diseases caused by thickening of muscles and stiff muscles that relax too slowly. I believe that this will not be as effective to teenagers because teenagers don't really suffer from high blood pressure and obesity compared to older people. I choose sugary foods over the other foods to cause a higher heart rate because since sugar increases your weight, that will make your BP rise; and as we know, that a high blood pressure can make your heart rate rise.
The food group that I believe will be the least affected with the age group is going to be bitter foods with the age group of people from 10-19 yrs of age. I think this because since bitter foods are usually really healthy for humans, I don't think the bitter foods will have that much of a drastic effect on the participants; and the reason I chose the age group of 10-19 yrs old is because of what I stated earlier about how teenagers don't really experience things that usually cause a high heart rate/blood pressure

 

Heart Anatomy

A typical heart has 4 chambers: 2 upper ones - The left and right atria (Which receive blood) and the 2 lower ones - The left and right ventricles. (Which pump blood) The heart also includes, The Vena Cava, Aorta, Pulmonary Valve, Pulmonary Artery, Pulmonary Vein, Inferior vena cava, Septum and the Descending aorta.

What is a Heart Attack? 

Also known as myocardial infarction, heart attacks occur when an artery that sends blood and oxygen to the heart is blocked. Fatty, cholesterol-containing deposits build up overtime which causes plaques. If plaque ruptures, a blood clot can form and block the arteries causing a heart attack. During a heart attack, a lack of blood causes the tissues in the myocardium to die.

Symptoms of a Heart Attack

The symptoms of a heart attack are:

• Chest Pain                               
• Cold sweat
• Fatigue
• Nausea
• Dyspnea
• Heartburn
• Lightheadedness
• Dizziness

Risk Factors of Heart Attacks

Some Risk Factors of Heart Disease include

• Age 
• Obesity
• Family History
• High BP
• Unhealthy Diet
• Stress

What is Tachycardia?

Tachycardia is an abnormal heart rhythm that occurs when your heart beat is over 100 beats per minute. Normally your heart rate would be around 60 to 100 beats per minute; when you aren’t using any energy. If your heart beats too often, it won’t have enough time to fill with blood between beats! This can be dangerous if the heart can't fill your cells with blood and oxygen.

Where does Tachycardia happen?

Tachycardia can happen in any of your 4 heart chambers. These include:

• Supraventricular tachycardias - which begin in your atria
• Ventricular tachycardias - which begin in your ventricles

What are some symptoms of Tachycardia? 

Some people with tachycardia don't show any signs of it, but others do and their symptoms include: 

• Fast Heart Beat
• Dyspnea (Shortness of Breath)
• Chest Pains
• Nausea
• Fatigue (Tiredness)
• Fainting

Sinus Tachycardia

Your heart normally responds to electrical signals from your hearts’ sinoatrial node (generates an electrical signal that causes the atria to contract) These signals control how often the heart beats. So if you have been scared, anxious or even just exercising, your heart may send signals more frequently in a short period of time. This is called Sinus Tachycardia - when you have a fast heart beat but when you calm down or rest, your heart goes back to its normal rhythm. You may also have a fast heart rate from tobacco use or caffeine/alcohol.

More tachycardia causes include: 

• Stress
• Dehydration
• High BP
• CHD
• Low Blood Sugar
• Pregnancy 
• Anemia

Some risk factors of having Tachycardia are:

• Family History
• Obesity
• Diabetes
• Kidney and Lung Disease

Noy only can Tachycardia be dangerous, but something called Bradycardia can also be as dangerous as tachycardia.

Bradycardia is a slow heart rate.(which is a heart beat under 60 beats per munute (BPM) Bradycardia can be a serous problem if the heart rate is really slow causing it to not be able to pump enough blood (with a lot of oxygen) to the body.

Figure 1: Regular Heart Beat vs. Bradycardia

Sudden cardiac death rarely happens to people under the age of 35. But if you are at risk, you should still take precautions. Some things that can cause sudden cardiac death are things like: Tachycardia, Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy and Coronary Heart Disease. 

 

Figure 2: The Causes of Sudden Cardiac Death

This image shows us some of the main causes of sudden cardiac death. (Taken off of https://www.aerjournal.com/articles/sudden-cardiac-death-and-arrhythmias)

Also known as Cardiovascular Disease, there are many different types of heart diseases. All the way from well known ones like: Strokes, Heart Attacks, Heart Failure and Coronary disease, to ones not as well known like: Myocarditis, Endocarditis, and Pericarditis. 

Most people that get diagnosed with any type of cardiovascular disease are usually prescribed with medicine and/or told to start adopting healthy lifestyle changes.

The American Heart association (AHA) says that the incidence of Cardiovascular Disease in US male and females is 40% from 40-59 yrs~ 75% from 60-79 yrs ~ and 86% from 80 yrs and older. So this means that people above 80 years old are more likely to get cardiovascular disease compared to those under 20. Older people usually get Cardiovascular Disease because of high blood pressure and/or obesity.

Age plays a huge role in the deterioration of the heart’s functionality. Which can lead to lots of cardiovascular diseases in adults. The prevalence of heart diseases is shown to increase in age, in both male and females.

 

Some foods that can impact the risk of getting cardiovascular disease are: Fried foods, Red Meat and Alcohol.

Fried foods- Fried foods absorb a lot of oil, that makes them a really high-fat product. Especially when the frying oil is reused ( which causes the freid foods to absorb more oil making it even MORE higher in fat) Fried foods are high in satureated and trans fats. WHich are known to increase blood cholesterol levels and damage the walls of your arteries. Eventually, the damged areas start to build up plaque, narrowing the artery which makes it harder for the heart to pump blood. When this happens, it is called Atherosclerosis. Atherosclersosis puts you in a really high risk for multiple cardiovascular conditions. 

Red Meat- Similar to fried foods, red meat also has high levels of saturated fat which have been known to lead to many cardiovascular diseases.

Alcohol- Alcohol can temporarily make your heart rate go over 100 beats per minute ( tachycardia ) but, too many series' of tachycardia can lead to more serious issues like heart failure or going into an irrgular heart rhythms which can cause a heart attack/stroke. Age can also change how well you can tolearte alcohol. As people get older, our ability to clear alcohol decreases and our sensitivity to alcohol likely increases. Since we as we get older, we end up likely to get more diseases; and just by drinking alcohol can make certain health conditions more dangerous                                                                                                                                    

Definitons

Pericarditis - Is inflammation of the sac like thing around your heart. Which protects your heart from damage and to hold your heart in place

Endocarditis - Is the inflammation of the inner lining of your heart’s chambers and valves

Myocarditis - Is inflammation of your myocardium. Which is your heart muscle

Cardiac Death - Is death due to a cardiovascular cause. ‘Death’ occurs when the heart stops beating

 

Manipulated Variables: - Types of Food

                                        - Age range

                                        - The food groups ( Sweet, Sour, Salty, Bitter, Spicy)

 

Responding Variable: - Participants' heart rate after eating the different foods

 

Controlled Variables:  - Amount of food given to the participants (20-25g) 

                                      - Time between serving of each food (5 minutes)

                                      - Food given to particpants ( Cupcakes, Donuts, Buffalo Wings, Suya Spice, Kale, Arugla, Lemon, Pickles, Pretzels) 

First I will give my participant my watch and check their original heart rate before I give them any food. After checking the participants’ original heart rate, I will give them the first food category. (Sugary Foods: Donuts, Cupcakes) I will then wait 5 minutes for the food to digest a little bit before I use my watch again to check their new heart rate. After that, I will note down the data that I receive. Then I will give the participant the next food group. 

This will be repeated 9 times on 9 different participants in their respected age group.

 

 

March 9th - After doing the first 3 participants (Kid 1, Senior 1 and Middle Aged 1) I have noticed that the other heart rates are somewhat similar to the original heart rate. So there haven't been any drastic changes; but of course this could change throughout the experiment.

March 10th - Today while repeating the project on two different participants (Teen 1 and 2) I noticed that the foods that each participant was most reluctant to eat, are the foods that they had the highest heart rate; and looking at the data from  yesterday, I noticed that my inference is valid

March 16th - I havent noticed any significant changes when it came to the people eating the foods, but I noticed that NO ONE wanted to eat the bitter foods or sour foods, but everyone except for the seniors were eager to eat the sweet foods. I also noticed that the Middle aged groups heart rate stuck between 70-85bpm. Also, the Adolescents have had the most randomized heart rates (with a variety). So far, my hypothesis has been  semi-correct, because, the seniors' heart rates actually pretty high (like I hypothesized) from a range of 90bpm-105bpm but the teenagers ALSO have really high heart rates which go against my hypothesis.

March 18th - When experimenting on the last few participants, I noticed that they ALSO hesitated while eating the bitter foods (kale and arugula). Except, the seniors' heart rate was suprisingly low and the kids' heart rate went really high!. (69bpm for the seniors and 104bpm for the kids)

         

Heart Rate	Sweet	Sour	Salty	Spicy	Bitter	Original
Kid 1	83bpm	85bpm	90bpm	64bpm	94bpm	107bpm
Kid 2	73bpm	112bpm	93bpm	101bpm	104bpm	99bpm
Kid 3	95bpm	92bpm	97bpm	89bpm	96bpm	90bpm

Figure 3: Kids' heart rate after eating the foods  

 

Heart Rate	Sweet	Sour	Salty	Spicy	Bitter	Original
Teen 1	100bpm	108bpm	101bpm	104bpm	112bpm	106bpm
Teen 2	96bpm	96bpm	91bpm	94bpm	96bpm	76bpm
Teen 3	92bpm	84bpm	93bpm	91bpm	84bpm	95bpm

Firgure 4:  Teens' Heart rate after eating the foods

 

Heart Rate	Sweet	Sour	Salty	Spicy	Bitter	Original
Adolescent 1	92bpm	78bpm	94bpm	91bpm	96bpm	88bpm
Adolescent 2	96bpm	76bpm	81bpm	84bpm	90bpm	90bpm
Adolescent 3	86bpm	88bpm	88bpm	78bpm	87bpm	76bpm

Figure 5: Adolescents' Heart rate after eating the foods

 

Heart Rate	Sweet	Sour	Salty	Spicy	Bitter	Original
Middle Aged 1	76bpm	77bpm	78bpm	76bpm	80bpm	76bpm
Middle Aged 2	80bpm	77bpm	76bpm	76bpm	85bpm	70bpm
Middle Aged 3	75bpm	84bpm	83bpm	81bpm	87bpm	78bpm

Figure 6: Middle Aged Heart rate after eating the foods

 

Heart Rate	Sweet	Sour	Salty	Spicy	Bitter	Original
Senior 1	90bpm	105bpm	85bpm	76bpm	85bpm	91bpm
Senoir 2	92bpm	93bpm	100bpm	94bpm	96bpm	98bpm
Senior 3	74bpm	69bpm	77bpm	77bpm	69bpm	69bpm

Figure 7: Seniors' Heart Rate after eating the foods

In this project, I tried to find out how different foods can affect out heart. To do this I got the 5 main food groups ( Sweet, Sour, Salty, Soicy, Bitter) to eat seperately and checked each participants' heart rate after eating each food. I then noted down my data in a table to be able to easily compare how differnet or similar the results were.

After finding the median for all of the different categories of food, I figured out that:

The age group with the highest sweet group: Teens (96 bpm)

                                                                      Sour group: Teens (96 bpm)

                                                                      Salty group: Teens (93 bpm)

                                                                      Spicy group: Teens (94 bpm)

                                                      Bitter group: Teens and Kids (96 bpm)

The age group with lowest sweet group: Middle Age (76 bpm)

                                                             Sour group: Middle Age (77 bpm) 

                                                             Salty group: Middle Age (78 bpm)

                                                            Spicy group: Middle Age (76 bpm) 

                             Bitter group: Seniors and Middle Aged (85 bpm)

 

After finishing my experiment, and analyzing the data, I can conclude that my hypothesis was: INCORRECT. 

My hypothesis was that the highest heart rate would go to the seniors because of thier high blood pressure and a higher chance of obesity. (with sugary foods) and I also believed that the age and food group that would have the Lowest heart rate would be teenagers and bitter foods, because teenagers don't experience obesity as often as older people; so their blood pressure won't rise as much. But, I can now state that, the least affected age group were the Middle Aged group (with spicy being the least effective) and the most affected age group were... the Teens! (with sweet, sour and bitter being the most effective!)

This project is important because since more than ⅕ of Canadians died from Heart Attacks in 2020, and even more by last year (2024), this shows that multiple people die from heart attacks and some foods can help with the problem,or make it worse. The positive impact of this project is to prevent more heart attacks from happening over the years and possibly forever.

Not only can heart attacks be dangerous but even if you survive a heart attack, if it becomes repetitive, that can lead to some more serious heart diseases.

There are many sources of error in this experiment. These include:

• I did not experiment on every age range from 1-100 years old so the results can really vary depending on what specific age I did
• I did not consider what the participants did before they participated in the expirement
• I did not consider different types of lifestyles that could make the results worse or better
• If I repeated this project more than twice, then I could have had a more accurate result
• The time of day that this is repeated is not consistent that could affect the results basing on how much the participant ate before that
• I could have added a neutralizing agent like water; to make the heart rate go back to around the original heart rate and that could have made the results more accurate
• The time range that I said I would wait (3-5 minutes) was not consistent; this possibly could affect my results drastically

Online Resources: Mayo Clinic, Million Hearts.org, Harvard Education, My Cleveland Clinic

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/heart-disease/symptoms-causes/syc-20353118

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/tachycardia/symptoms-causes/syc-20355127

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/sudden-cardiac-arrest/in-depth/sudden-death/art-20047571

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/bradycardia/symptoms-causes/syc-20355474

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/heart-attack/symptoms-causes/syc-20373106 

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/body/21704-heart

https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/22108-tachycardia

https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/what-your-heart-rate-is-telling-you

 

Online Articles: NIH, Harvard Health

https://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/diagnosing-coronary-artery-disease

https://www.health.harvard.edu/topics/heart-health

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK535419/

https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/heart-health/heart-health-and-aging

https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/research/coronary-heart-disease

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK507854/#:~:text=Sudden%20cardiac%20death%20(SCD)%20is,to%20maintain%20perfusion%20and%20life.

https://www.goodrx.com/well-being/diet-nutrition/fried-foods-heart-health  - Ana Reisdorf, MS, RD_ Katie E. Golden, MD Published June 11 2021

https://health.clevelandclinic.org/4-facts-know-alcohol-affects-heart - Leslie Cho, MD interviwed by the Cleveland Clinic

Ms. Offord - My coordinator that gave me support throughout this project

Maryam/Reynah/Saanvi - Went over my project and gave me feedback/ideas

My Dad - Bought the materials for my project!

Ms. Petrovic - Gave me feedback to make my project as great and as understandable as possible

Mr.Palamarchuk - For giving me advice

All my Participants: Thank you to ALL my Participants!!!(Adelaide, Daniella, Avneet, Reynah, My Dad, My Grandma, Adeola, Folusho, Ayomide, Mary, Olayinka, Another member of my church, Mrs. Ferrell and Dahunsi’s Dad!

                           

Thank You SO MUCH!!!!!