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Heart Disease
What happened? IT'S NOT NICE TO FOOL MOTHER NATURE We began to "manufacture" food. One of the first unnatural ventures was the creation of margarine, patented in 1873. After Word War ll, the food processing industry was off and running and its advertising messages were relentless. Experts writing for the Weston A. Price Foundation explain it: "Representatives of [refined sweeteners, white flour and vegetable oils] have worked behind the scenes to erect the huge edifice of the "lipid hypothesis" – the untenable theory that saturated fats and cholesterol cause heart disease and cancer. All one has to do is look at the statistics to know that it isn't true. Butter consumption at the turn of the century was eighteen pounds per person per year, and the use of vegetable oils almost nonexistent, yet cancer and heart disease were rare. Today vegetable oil consumption has soared – and cancer and heart disease are endemic.Margarine represented the introduction of trans-fats, vegetable oils that are partially hydrogenated to be semi-hard, like Crisco, at room temperature. As our consumption of trans-fats rose, so did the number of heart attacks.[3] Trans-fats interfere with the normal function of the cells, and stiffen the walls of the red blood cells, which roughs up the arteries. Butter on the other hand, contains nutrients which protect against plaque and heart disease:[4]
Harvard scientists took the first worldwide look at the effects of eating meat, They reviewed 1,600 studies involving over 1.2 million people around the world, and concluded in 2010 that, "The consumption of processed meats, rather than red meats, was associated with increased incidence of coronary heart disease." [5A] Things like bacon, sausage, pepperoni, hot dogs, and lunch meat contain chemicals, preservatives, and additives. Often they are smoked, cured, or salted. This was a landmark study that clarified that "clean" meats are indeed healthy; it is manufactured, processed meat that is the problem. When you eat processed meat with additives, you get four times the sodium and twice as many nitrates. Salt drives up your blood pressure. Nitrates cause plaque to build up in your arteries. [5B] Starting in the 1980s, sun screen makers and dermatologists persuaded us to hide from the natural rays of the sun. Big mistake. Vitamin D deficiency is now rampant. It turns out that one of the many benefits of the "sunshine vitamin" is a healthy heart. Studies have linked vitamin D to the regulation of blood pressure, glucose control, and inflammation, all of which are important risk factors related to heart disease. A 2009 study by researchers at the Heart Institute at Intermountain Medical Center in Salt Lake City suggests that inadequate levels of vitamin D may significantly increase a person's risk of stroke, heart disease, and death, even among people who've never had heart disease. "We concluded that among patients 50 years of age or older, even a moderate deficiency of vitamin D levels was associated with developing coronary artery disease, heart failure, stroke, and death," says Heidi May, PhD, MS, an epidemiologist with the Intermountain Medical Center research team and one of the study authors. "This is important because vitamin D deficiency is easily treated." Chronic Inflammation The realization that chronic inflammation plays a big role in heart disease and other chronic diseases gained traction when the Nobel Prize was awarded for the discovery that stress did not, in and of itself, cause stomach ulcers. Rather ulcers were caused by inflammation triggered by the bacterium H. pylori. "It's hard now to think of a medical specialty that doesn't concern itself in part with the study of inflammation," said Carl Nathan, chairman of the department of microbiology and immunology at the Weill Medical College of Cornell University. "It can go anywhere – lung, heart, blood vessels, brain, wherever."[6] Inflammation is the body's response to the presence of noxious substances – trans fats, heavy metals, high blood sugar levels, cigarette smoke, toxic chemicals, stress, bacterial infections. Inflammatory stimulants release proteins – cytokines – that trigger an inflammatory cascade. The cytokines make the arterial wall sticky, which attracts immune system cells called monocytes. The monocytes squeeze into the artery wall. Once inside, they can form what is called "vulnerable plaque" with a thin covering. Vulnerable plaques may not even show up on tests because their thin shape does not narrow the artery appreciably. "I think the first thing we have is an epidemic of unhealthy lifestyle," said Peter Libby, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School in Boston. "And the way in which the lifestyle is wreaking its havoc is through inflammation."[7] Infection and Immune System Challenges Research indicates that infection has an inflammatory role in atherosclerosis. Fingers of blame point to the infectious bacteria Chlamydia pneumoniae; it may travel from the lungs to the heart via immune system cells.[8] The herpes simplex virus has also been proposed as an inflammatory infectious agent in atherosclerosis.[9] Studies of arteries taken from people who died of coronary heart disease reveal evidence of some form of infection.[10] People with high levels of inflammatory cells are more likely to develop heart disease. The Northern Manhattan Study, reported in early 2010, showed that the extent of people's exposure to infectious diseases may contribute to their development of carotid plaque. Previous research showed that the burden of infectious disease is related to stroke risk. The current findings suggest that atherosclerosis may be the mechanism underlying this link. Dental root canals are often a focus of chronic infection, which can affect the entire system, just as water dripping every day from a leaky pipe eventually fills the bucket. Weston Price, a former Director of Research for the American Dental Association, observed that the removal of root canal teeth from patients with kidney or heart disease would typically lead to an improvement. When he inserted a removed root canal tooth under the skin of a rabbit, the rabbit would die within two days. When he implanted normal teeth there was no adverse health effect, the rabbit survived.[10a] Homocysteine Homocysteine levels are more valuable than cholesterol levels in providing an accurate assessment of cardiovascular health. Elevated homocysteine is considered an independent risk factor for heart disease.[11] Levels must be kept low to help prevent plaque buildup on blood vessel walls. High levels may make blood clot more easily than it should. Homocysteine is an amino acid used in the body's detoxification cycle, involving methylation and sulfation, the body's way of getting rid of toxins. Supplementation of vitamins B6, B12 and folic acid, together with betaine, are an excellent way to decrease homocysteine levels and decrease the risk of developing heart disease. C-Reactive Protein Forget cholesterol. Cholesterol screening fails to identify 50 percent of the people who have heart attacks in the United States each year, because their total cholesterol is either normal or only moderately elevated.[12] The better measurement is for cardiovascular disease is C-reactive protein (CRP). This marker is produced by the liver as a response to injury or infection and is a sign of inflammation in the body. Research correlates high levels of CRP with an increased risk of heart attack and stroke. Elevated levels of CRP could mean that some part of the cardiovascular system is inflamed, which can lead to stroke or heart attack. In the 1990s, Dr. Paul Ridker, a cardiologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital, became convinced that some sort of inflammatory reaction was responsible for "bursting plaques," and he began studying CPR levels. By 1997, Ridker and his colleagues had shown that healthy middle-aged men with the highest CRP levels were three times as likely to suffer a heart attack in the next six years as were those with the lowest CRP levels.[13] CRP can enhance destruction of arterial lining cells, activate adhesion molecules and blood clotting factors, and interfere with substances that increase circulation to the heart. Insulin and Leptin Resistance Research has linked insulin resistance and more recently leptin resistance to cardiovascular disease much more strongly than cholesterol, and they are in fact at least partially responsible for cholesterol abnormalities. [13a] Insulin and leptin resistance result in "small dense" LDL particles and a greater number of particles. This is much more important than the total cholesterol number. Because of particle size shift to small and dense, the total LDL cholesterol could still be low even though the number of particles and the density of the particles is greater. Small, dense LDL particles can squeeze between the cells lining the inside of the arteries, the "gap junction" of the endothelium, where they can get stuck and potentially oxidize, turn rancid, and potentially turn rancid (i.e. oxidize), and cause inflammation of the lining of the arteries and plaque formation. Hypertension  High blood pressure, also called hypertension, makes the heart work extra hard and hardens artery walls, increasing the risk of heart disease and stroke.The top number of a blood pressure reading, the systolic pressure, represents the force of blood in the arteries as the heart beats. The bottom number, diastolic pressure, is the force of blood in the arteries as the heart relaxes between beats. A blood pressure level of 140 over 90 mm Hg (millimeters of mercury) or higher is considered high. Poor eating habits and physical inactivity both contribute to high blood pressure. Refined table salt increases average levels of blood pressure, and this effect is greater in some people than in others. An increased body burden of heavy metals has also been shown to cause high blood pressure.[14] Fibrin Fibrin is a protein produced by the body in response to infectious illnesses. Fibrin gets plastered up against the blood vessel walls and restricts the movement of oxygen into the tissues. The tissues become oxygen-starved, and start producing lactic acid. If unchecked, over-production of lactic acid leads to death of the myocardial cells. Also, bacteria, viruses – bugs – hide very well in fibrin coatings, adding to your load of low-grade, chronic infections. NO – Nitric Oxide Nitric oxide may do more good than any prescription drug to prevent a heart attack. Nitric oxide is essential for healthy circulation. It helps dilate blood vessels, prevent blood clots, and regulate blood pressure. It also inhibits the accumulation of dangerous arterial plaque. It is an antioxidant that inhibits the passage of monocytes, a type of immune cell, into the artery wall. This reduces the underlying inflammation that promotes plaque. Healthy coronary arteries are clean, smooth, and slick. The artery walls are flexible and can expand to let more blood through when the heart needs to work harder, thanks to nitric oxide. The disease process in arteries begins with an injury to the linings and walls of the arteries. Unfortunately, beginning in early adulthood, nitric oxide levels gradually decline, most often due to damage to the endothelial cells caused by such factors as an inflammatory diet and a sedentary lifestyle. Mercury A 14-year study of 1,871 men found those with the highest levels of mercury in their hair had a 60 percent increased risk of an acute coronary event and a nearly 70 percent increased risk of cardiovascular death compared with men with lower mercury levels. Men with the highest levels of mercury in their hair, which is a standard method of measuring mercury in the body, consumed more than two times the amount of fish as those with the lowest levels.
Herbert Needleman, the scientist who did more than any other to document the toxicity of lead to developing brains, wrote, "Sensitivity to mercury toxicity may have a genetic basis." Variations in a gene called coproporphyrinogen oxidase (CPOX4) "altered the impact of mercury on cognitive and mood scores." Approximately 1 out 4 people in the U.S. has the sensitive-to-mercury gene. Besides fish and coal-fired power plants, a common exposure is "silver" fillings. More than half of an amalgam filling is made up of mercury, a metal more poisonous than lead. It is now accepted that fillings constantly emit mercury vapor, which then and it makes its way into the bloodstream and organs. Study after study has shown that mercury negatively affects the heart. Here's a sampling of the findings:
Patients with periodontal disease are perhaps two times as likely to suffer a fatal heart attack and nearly three times as likely to suffer a stroke as those without gum and bone disease.[23]  A metallic filling of any sort, including gold, usually exhibits some form of battery-like action, generating microvoltages in each filled tooth that can interfere with the body's natural electronic field. Conventional acupuncture theory recognizes that teeth are significant points along recognized acupuncture meridians and that any foreign voltages generated on these meridians can disturb the body's natural state of health.Emotions The Chinese call the heart the Emperor organ. All emotions are perceived by the heart. Emotions may not be expressed, but they are all perceived by the heart. If we grow up in a family where heart disease is an issue, it may be that on a subconscious level we learned that any emotional imbalance may express itself as heart disease. Energetic medicine can address those blockages. SOLUTIONS The allopathic medical world relies on drugs and surgery. Study after study says the surgical procedures are not working well. A study published January 15, 2009 in New England Journal of Medicine found that people with clogged heart arteries are being overtreated with stents. Fewer deaths, heart attacks, and repeat procedures occurred when doctors implanted fewer of these tiny artery props, and when doctors used the blood-flow test to decide when they were truly needed. An angioplasty procedure pushes a balloon into a blood vessel to flatten the blockage, leaving a stent to prop the artery open. A stent is a foreign object in the body; it incites an immune/inflammatory response. This may cause scar tissue to grow rapidly over the stent. Also, there is a strong tendency for clots to form at the site where the stent damages the arterial wall. American heart surgeons install about a million stents annually. Stents are less commonly used in Europe. Stents and by-pass surgeries don't address the causes of heart disease. Statins are anti-inflammatory, and that is a help. But they also come with side effects because they suppress the body's normal production of cholesterol which is not good – cholesterol is a powerhouse anti-oxidant.  Blood tends to get more viscous (sticky, thick) thanks to inflammatory diet, inflammatory heavy metals like mercury, chronic infections, lack of nutrients (especially B vitamins, folic acid, vitamin C and vitamin D, and omega-3s), and lack of exercise. Thick blood roughs up the arterial walls.As a result of disease in the small vessels, heart cells suffer from inadequate oxygen and nutrient supply. Lactic acid begins to collect in the tissues. Because the heart, unlike your leg muscles, cannot rest, the acidosis can lead to actual death of the myocardial cells. If it's just a couple of cells, we may not feel it. If it's a whole section of the heart, it hurts a lot and we call it a heart attack. Chelation is the Solution Chelation has long been a successful, non-invasive treatment for heart disease. A common misperception is that it works like Drano to "rotor rooter" the arteries, get rid of the calcified plaques. Wrong. Plaque reversal is not the primary mechanism of action with chelation therapy. It is established that 70% to 85% of sudden heart attack and stroke deaths are due to the rupture of vulnerable, non-calcified arterial plaque and subsequent clot formation - what Dr. Ridker calls popcorn kernel-like ruptures.[24,24a,25], Researchers are realizing that many people who have heart attacks do not have arteries severely narrowed by plaque. Scientists at the Texas Heart Institute have discovered that vulnerable plaque has a low pH (is more acidic) and that such acidic plaques are more likely to rupture.[25a] For chelating agents, we use EthyleneDiamineTetraAcetic acid (EDTA), a synthetic amino acid. We often combine it with vitamin C and possibly other supplementation, and it is typically given in a series of IVs delivered once a week for perhaps 30 weeks. EDTA removes mercury later in the sequence of heavy metals than DMPS, dimercapto propane sulfonate. DMPS is used preferentially for elevated body burden of mercury, because it binds more tightly to mercury. DMSA, dimercapto succinic acid, is an oral sulfur-containing chelating agent which also has a high binding coefficient for mercury. Chelation came to the forefront in the 1950s because it successfully treated cases of lead poisoning among those who worked in factories making batteries, and among U.S. sailors who painted ships with lead-based paints. EDTA grabs onto metals and escorts them out of the body. It was noticed that people with heart disease also improved with chelation. It is estimated that over one million patients have received intravenous chelation therapy. Chelation works because:
The study has completed enrollment of patients. Participants will continue to be followed through 2011, and the results will be analyzed in 2012.[26a] Nutritional Therapy In the 1950s, the Shute brothers documented the use of Vitamin E to prevent and treat heart disease. Data also indicated that intravenous magnesium could reduce deaths from heart attacks. It makes sense – the closer we stay to the natural elements designed by nature, the healthier we are. Magnesium helps the blood vessels to relax, providing better circulation to heart cells. At the Arizona Center for Advanced Medicine, we combine chelation with nutritional supplementation. Depending upon the cardiac patient, here are a few examples of what we may use:
[1] A.G. Gibbon, Ischemic necrosis of the heart. Lancet, 1925, i, pp. 1270-9. [2] Sally Fallon, Ancient Dietary Wisdom for Tomorrow's Children, Weston A. Price Foundation website. [3] Enig, MG. Trans Fatty Acids in the Food Supply: A Comprehensive Report Covering 60 Years of Research, 2nd Edition, Enig Associates, Inc, Silver Spring, MD, pages 93-96, 1995 [4] Sally Fallon and Mary Enig, Why Butter is Better, 1999, accessed at http://www.westonaprice.org/foodfeatures/butter.html [5] JAMA 1967 202:1119-1123; Am J Clin Nutr 1981 34:1552 [5A] Renata Micha, Sarah K. Wallace, Dariush Mozaffarian, Red and Processed Meat Consumption and Risk of Incident Coronary Heart Disease, Stroke, and Diabetes Mellitus: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis, Circulation, online May 17, 2010. [5B] Paikabc, DC., Wendel, TD., Freeman, HP. "Cured meat consumption and hypertension: an analysis from NHANES III (1988-94)." Nutrition Research, 2005; 25(12):1049-1060. [6] Rob Stein, Body's First Defense May Be Root of Diseases, The Washington Post, February 16, 2003; Page A01 [7] ibid [8] Circulation, Nov 10 2000 [9] American Heart Association factsheet, Inflammation, Heart Disease and Stroke: The Role of C-Reactive Protein [10] Stephan J. Ott, MD*; Nour Eddine El Mokhtari, MD*; et al; Detection of Diverse Bacterial Signatures in Atherosclerotic Lesions of Patients With Coronary Heart Disease, Circulation, 2006;113:929-937 [10a] George E. Meinig, DDS. Root Canal Cover-Up. Bion Publishing, 1994 [11] McCarty MF, Thomas CA. The Vascular Toxicity of Homocysteine and How to Control It. Downloaded January 23, 2009 from the Linus Pauling website, http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/f-w99/vascular.html [12] Dr. Eric S. Rawson of the University of Massachusetts Medical School, Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, July, 2003. [13] P.M. Ridker, et al., "Inflammation, aspirin, and the risk of cardiovascular-disease in apparently healthy men," New Engl. J. Med., 336(14): 973-9, 1997 [13a] Martin SS, Oasim A, Reilly MP; Leptin resistance: a possible interface of inflammation and metabolism in obesity-related cardiovascular disease, Journal of American College of Cardiology, 2008 Oct 7;52(15):1201-10 [14] Navas-Acien A, Guallar E et al. Lead Exposure and Cardiovascular Disease – A Systematic Review. EHP 2007 March; 115(3):472-82. [15] Martinet W. Croons V. Nitric oxide selectively depletes macrophages in atherosclerotic plaques via induction of endoplasmic reticulum stress. British Journal of Pharmacology (2007) 152, 493–500; doi:10.1038/sj.bjp.0707426. [16] Presentation to the American Heart Association's Asia Pacific Scientific Forum in Honolulu, Hawaii April 24, 2002; press release accessed at http://news.bio-medicine.org/medicine-news-2/Mercury-ups-heart-disease-risk-8269-1/ [17] Needleman, Mercury in Dental Amalgam a Risk-a Neurotoxic Risk? editorial in Journal of the American Medical Association, April 19, 2006 ;296(12):1462-1463. [18] Proc Soc Exper Biol Med, 1965; 120: 805-8; Proc Soc Exper Biol Med, 1967; 124: 485-90; Am J Physiol, 1970; 219: 755-61; Am J Physiol, 1971; 220: 808-11 [19] Am J Physiol, 1975; 229: 8-12 [20] Cardiotoxic Effects of Mercury, DHEW (NIH) Publication No 74-473, 1974, pp 109-34, 199-210 [21] Thromb Res, 1983; 30: 579-85 [22] SRI Total Environ, 1990; 99: 23-35 [23] Bill Wolfe D.D.S., N.M.D. [24] Ridker PM, Hennekens CH, Buring JE, Rifai N. C-reactive protein and other markers of inflammation in the prediction of cardiovascular disease in women. N Eng J Med. March 23, 2000:836. [24a] Chelation reduces the primary sources of inflammation. Chelating agents include EthyleneDiamineTetraAcetic acid (EDTA), a synthetic amino acid. We often (I can't get this to unbold in email - I don;t mean to suggest that it should be bolded.) [25] Morteza Naghavi, MD; Peter Libby, MD; et al; From Vulnerable Plaque to Vulnerable Patient-A Call for New Definitions and Risk Assessment Strategies, Circulation. 2003;108:1664-1672 [25a] Morteza Naghavia, Reji John, et al. pH Heterogeneity of human and rabbit atherosclerotic plaques; a new insight into detection of vulnerable plaque. Athlerosclerosis, September 2002,164;1:27-35 [26] Stephen T. Sinatra, James C. Roberts, Reverse Heart Disease Now, Wiley Publishing, 2006, page 164 [26a] http://nccam.nih.gov/health/chelation/ [27] Cees Vermeer, Lavienja Braam, Vitamin K supplementation: A simple way to bone and cardiovascular health, AgroFOOD industry hi-tech, Nov/Dec 2003, 17-20. |
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