New Horizon Fitness
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Personal Training - for living!
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HEART DISEASE & STROKE
Heart Disease & Stroke are the first and
third leading causes of death in the United States. There are numerous variants of these diseases, but a common cause of most is arterial scarring or atherosclerosis leading to plaque development. These plaques grow and often rupture causing a clot (thrombus) that closes the artery at that location. Or the clot breaks loose (embolism) and can block another critical artery to the heart or brain. Either event leads to a heart attack or stroke. This page is focused upon the underlying causes of atherosclerosis and plaque development.
In the movie, "The Matrix", the hero discovers what he thought was reality was a computer generated illusion. Your long life depends on discovering The Cholesterol > Heart Disease Matrix, the simplistic and flawed illusion that cholesterol is the primary cause of atherosclerosis. This singular focus is dangerous. About 1/2 of the people having a fatal or debilitating heart attack or stroke, have “normal” cholesterol levels.
The reality is some specific types of cholesterol (lipoproteins) are harmful but comprise just one of 17-20 risk factors contributing to atherosclerosis and plaque formation. These plaques are composed of calcium, cholesterol, various fats, macrophages, cellular debris, and connective tissue. The exact and numerous sequences of events leading to plaque formation are complicated and still under intense study.
However, many things are known and can be addressed. First, plaques actually grow in the middle sections of the artery, the tunica intima and tunica media. Some growth can be accommodated before arterial obstruction becomes a problem. The endothelium is the innermost lining of the artery where the blood actually makes contact. When the endothelium suffers damage, it loses structural integrity and plaques form partly as a protective scab like response. Getting to root causes, atherosclerosis is better viewed as endothelial disease. Keep the endothelium undamaged and healthy then plaque formation and or rupture is avoided or greatly delayed. Chronic inflammatory factors are the cause of most excess endothelium damage, see references below.
The takeaway thought here is care for your endothelium. Some plaque development is inevitable due to the cumulative effect of blood pressure, turbulence at junctions and bends, and the age related glycosylation process. However, like aging, the rate of development is largely a function of diet and lifestyle factors. The wall thickness of a critical artery can be measured using non invasive ultrasound, Carotid Intima-Media Thickness (CMIT) technology. This gives you an indication of overall plaque development. See below. The normal cholesterol test, including the basic LDL, HDL breakout is a very poor predictor of endothelial health.
The Cholesterol > Heart Disease Matrix is actively supported by the pharmaceutical companies in order to sell you their most profitable cholesterol lowering statin drugs. The companies design and fund the drug approval trials. Almost 2/3 of the department chairs at U.S. medical schools are on the pharmaceutical payroll in some form, so don't expect that your average physician has gotten an unbiased education. Drugs have their place when all else fails, but prevention is the key. Fortunately there are Natural Solutions to promote endothelial health that are effective and side effect free.
Link to HEART HEALTH NATURAL SOLUTIONS
third leading causes of death in the United States. There are numerous variants of these diseases, but a common cause of most is arterial scarring or atherosclerosis leading to plaque development. These plaques grow and often rupture causing a clot (thrombus) that closes the artery at that location. Or the clot breaks loose (embolism) and can block another critical artery to the heart or brain. Either event leads to a heart attack or stroke. This page is focused upon the underlying causes of atherosclerosis and plaque development.
In the movie, "The Matrix", the hero discovers what he thought was reality was a computer generated illusion. Your long life depends on discovering The Cholesterol > Heart Disease Matrix, the simplistic and flawed illusion that cholesterol is the primary cause of atherosclerosis. This singular focus is dangerous. About 1/2 of the people having a fatal or debilitating heart attack or stroke, have “normal” cholesterol levels.
The reality is some specific types of cholesterol (lipoproteins) are harmful but comprise just one of 17-20 risk factors contributing to atherosclerosis and plaque formation. These plaques are composed of calcium, cholesterol, various fats, macrophages, cellular debris, and connective tissue. The exact and numerous sequences of events leading to plaque formation are complicated and still under intense study.
However, many things are known and can be addressed. First, plaques actually grow in the middle sections of the artery, the tunica intima and tunica media. Some growth can be accommodated before arterial obstruction becomes a problem. The endothelium is the innermost lining of the artery where the blood actually makes contact. When the endothelium suffers damage, it loses structural integrity and plaques form partly as a protective scab like response. Getting to root causes, atherosclerosis is better viewed as endothelial disease. Keep the endothelium undamaged and healthy then plaque formation and or rupture is avoided or greatly delayed. Chronic inflammatory factors are the cause of most excess endothelium damage, see references below.
The takeaway thought here is care for your endothelium. Some plaque development is inevitable due to the cumulative effect of blood pressure, turbulence at junctions and bends, and the age related glycosylation process. However, like aging, the rate of development is largely a function of diet and lifestyle factors. The wall thickness of a critical artery can be measured using non invasive ultrasound, Carotid Intima-Media Thickness (CMIT) technology. This gives you an indication of overall plaque development. See below. The normal cholesterol test, including the basic LDL, HDL breakout is a very poor predictor of endothelial health.
The Cholesterol > Heart Disease Matrix is actively supported by the pharmaceutical companies in order to sell you their most profitable cholesterol lowering statin drugs. The companies design and fund the drug approval trials. Almost 2/3 of the department chairs at U.S. medical schools are on the pharmaceutical payroll in some form, so don't expect that your average physician has gotten an unbiased education. Drugs have their place when all else fails, but prevention is the key. Fortunately there are Natural Solutions to promote endothelial health that are effective and side effect free.
Link to HEART HEALTH NATURAL SOLUTIONS
Diet and lifestyle changes are the best preventive measures to slow the development atherosclerosis.
The holy grail of atherosclerosis treatment is not only to delay the progression, but reverse it. The drug solutions have had no success in this area without killing the patient from side effects.
No single "magic bullet" will cure all aspects of this disease because of the multiplicity of causes. Yet some Natural Solutions have shown proven benefits
Is It Time To Get Serious About Preventing Heart Disease?
IF you make it to the operating table after a heart attack, your prognosis is still not good.
Overall, an angioplasty does little to improve long term mortality.
Kolata Gina. "New Heart Studies Question the Value of Opening Arteries". NYT. 21 Mar 2004.
Progression of Atherosclerosis Over Time
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REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING:
Albert CM. “Prospective study of C-reactive protein, homocysteine, and plasma lipid levels as predictors of sudden cardiac death”. Circulation 2002;105(22):2595-9.
American Heart Association. "Inflammation, Heart Disease and Stroke: The Role of C-Reactive Protein”. Referenced 18 April 2009.
Campbell Eric. "Institutional Academic-Industry Relationships". JAMA 2007;298(15):1779-86. COMMENT: Key to "matrix" management, 2/3 of medical school department chairpersons are getting paid in some form from the pharmaceutical companies.
Danesh John. “Low grade inflammation and coronary heart disease: prospective study and updated metaanalysis”. BMJ 2000;321:199-204.
Goodman Bob. "Do drug company promotions influence physician behavior?". West J Med 2001;174:232-223.
Hackam DG. “Emerging risk factors for artherosclerotic vascular disease: A critical review of the evidence”. JAMA 2003;290:932-40.
Ravnskov Uffe. The Cholesterol Myths Exposing the Fallacy That Saturated Fat and Cholesterol Cause Heart Disease. Washington DC: New Trends Publishing, 2000.
Rosenberg Harriet. “Evidence for Caution: Women and statin use”. Women and Health Protection, Health Canada 2007. COMMENT: A must read for women (and men) advised to take a statin drug, e.g., Lipitor, Zocor, Crestor. This is a more objective look at these drugs from the Canadian equivalent of the FDA.
Weinberg Sylvan. “The Diet-Heart Hypothesis: A Critique”. J Am Col Cardio 2004:43 (5).
