Heart Disease
WHY SO MANY PEOPLE DIE OF A HEART ATTACK EVEN THOUGH ONE DOES NOT HAVE TRADITIONAL RISK FACTORS
We all know people have die of sudden death from a heart attack and we are left wondering, what else we can do to prevent a heart attack and sudden death and reverse heart disease. Even though one can have access to so much information at one’s fingertips, have the best cardiologists, and have the best of what conventional medicine could offer. Yet this does not guarantee that one would be privy to information that is emerging from a plethora of scientific studies about holistic medicine and the efficacy of natural compounds that is transforming our way of thinking about how we can heal at the deepest levels. Because we are flooded with information from the pharmaceutical industry and the media about new drugs we have come to believe that only drugs can heal any disease, while the scientific information about the benefits of nutraceuticals (natural compounds) and how deeply they can improve biochemistry function gets blotted out of view.
It is clear that merely controlling one’s blood pressure and cholesterol with medications is not sufficient. In fact, studies show that close to 50% of relatively younger patients who develop heart disease do not have any of the more well-known risk factors, such as high blood pressure and cholesterol. Apparently, we need to look deeper; we need to look beneath the tip of the iceberg for the deeper causes of heart disease. More and more studies are showing that the deeper we look for causes, the more we see that disease stems from cellular dysfunction (characterized by a decreased ability to produce energy, anti-oxidant deficiencies, toxic build up, cell membrane damage and a decreased ability of the cell and organ to do its work in the body) which is not amenable to drug interventions. Yet in order to appreciate this, and to notice this new information one must see the world and the human body from a holistic perspective, otherwise we will easily miss the information that is changing our way of understanding health. We will miss the new information about the efficacy of a myriad of natural compounds that can improve cellular function and help us heal at the deeper levels.
Perhaps if we approach health from a holistic perspective we could prevent many unnecessary heart attacks, instead of just taking medications to lower cholesterol and blood pressure, without understanding the deeper metabolic and nutritional abnormalities is like treating someone in a third world country with an antibiotic for an infectious disease and putting them back into the microbe infested environment they came from. It is time we begin to think deeper, it is time we loosen the grip the pharmaceutical industry has had on our minds on the practice of medicine.
We do not suffer from any disease because we are deficient in a medication. One does not have hypertension because one is deficient in blood pressure medications. One develops hypertension because the arteries are not functioning properly, which Is frequently due to inflammation, insulin resistance and a relative deficiency of vitamin B12, vitamin C, and other nutrients. Additionally, oxidized cholesterol (cholesterol damaged by free radicals), further contributes to dysfunction of the vessels. Scientists call this state that leads to heart disease, endothelial dysfunction yet sadly most doctors are unfamiliar with this term and what it signifies. Similarly, one does not have high cholesterol because one is deficient in a statin drug. One has high cholesterol because of a poor diet and metabolic abnormalities which are missed by routine blood tests. We know that most cholesterol is produced in our bodies, by the adrenals and the liver. Additionally if the liver is not functioning properly, due to insulin resistance, (a condition characterized by excess insulin in the body, and the inability of the cells to pick up insulin due to a refined carbohydrate and excess fat diet) and inflammation it produces more atherogenic (more likely to cause heart disease) cholesterol particles like lipoprotein A, VLDL and Apo-B. Lipoprotein A is a powerful much underappreciated cause of heart disease. Analyzing the findings from 27 studies British researchers found that those patients with high levels of lipoprotein A had a 70% higher risk of developing heart disease over a period of 10 years. High levels of lipoprotein A, can lead to a heart attack early in life, often in a person’s 40 or 50’s. Lipoprotein A also significantly magnifies the dangers of all other risk factors, especially LDL cholesterol. The reason this not a widely known risk factor, is that there is no drug to treat it. What can treat it however are nutritional interventions and dietary changes such as niacin fish oil vitamin c, lysine and proline. Additionally eliminating trans-fats is a necessity. The journal of lipid research in October 1992 showed that trans-fats significantly increases lipoprotein A levels.
Our lifestyle, our polluted environment, eating refined fried foods full of trans-fats and chemicals most can’t pronounce is what sets the stage for inflammation. A plethora of studies show that inflammation is associated with heart disease. It also causes insulin-resistance or pre-diabetes which worsens inflammation and vascular dysfunction. High levels of insulin also cause weight gain, high blood pressure and if one looks closely enough most patients with heart disease have it. This is why every patient of mine who either has heart disease or if I am suspicious they may have it, I measure a fasting glucose and insulin level and sometimes I do a three-hour glucose and insulin tolerance test.
Clearly the deeper we look, the more we see that heart disease is due to cellular dysfunction, stemming from poor diet, inflammation, abnormalities in insulin function, liver dysfunction and a host of other forms of dysfunction. Dysfunction is a dirty word that the pharmaceutical world doesn’t want you to know about because it is not amenable to drug therapies, and yet it is the true cause of disease. Cellular dysfunction, however, is amenable to dietary changes and a myriad of natural compounds. The deeper in the chain of events that lead to disease, the more effective is natural medicine and the less effective is conventional medicine.
Studies have shown the vitamin B12, folate, vitamin C, L-arginine, resveratrol, anti-oxidant therapy and fish oil improves endothelial function. Fish oil also reduces inflammation and lowers blood pressure. More importantly because it improves the electrical conductivity of the heart it can prevent arrhythmias and sudden death from a heart attack. A major clinical study of more than 11,000 adults showed that those who consumed 1,000mg of fish oil daily had a 30% reduced rate of cardiovascular disease and a 20% of lower rate of sudden death.
How many people with cardiovascular issues are aware of all of these? Do they know about inflammation, insulin-resistance and its connection to heart disease? Do they know about blood tests that better predict heart attacks than cholesterol HDL and LDL, such as APO-B and lipo A? Do they know about the nutrients and nutraceuticals that improve vascular function? Do they know that fish oil could prevent arrhythmias and sudden death?
And there are other natural compounds, doctors and their patients must know about. Garlic, pomegranate extract, CoQ10, ribose, L-carnitine, vitamin C, mixed vitamin C, niacin and resveratrol, are just a few of the natural compounds that have been shown in scientific studies to be beneficial for anyone with heart disease. Garlic and pomegranate extract has been shown in scientific studies to actually reverse arthrosclerosis. Cholesterol medications can deplete one of CoQ10, a critical nutrient for cardiac function. How many people or their cardiologists know this?
Low thyroid, which one might have even if routine test are normal can also contribute to heart disease. According to scientists in an article published in the Lancet in 2002, patients who were in the upper limit of normal on the TSH thyroid blood test, and no obvious symptoms of thyroid disease had a 20 times increased chance of developing heart disease. Clearly, according to new and more recent studies, a more sensitive thyroid test, called the TRH stimulation test should be done for anyone who we suspect may have thyroid disease.
Heart disease and heart attacks cannot be prevented just by taking medications, but ultimately it can only be prevented from a holistic approach to health and disease. The scientific studies supporting this are available in the cyberspace of information; we just need to have the eyes to see it. More important than information is how we organize the information and the theories that the information is whispering to us. As Robert Heinlen said, “the greatest crisis facing us is a crisis in the organization and the accessibility of human knowledge. We own an enormous encyclopedia, which isn’t even arranged alphabetically. Our file cards are spilled on the floor. The answers we want may be buried in the heap.”
