TotalHealth Magazine

Inflammation is at the core of heart disease

Excess body fat can lead to a host of heart diseases. Veins and arteries become more compromised, and blood vessels in legs and micro-capillaries in eyes can wear out three times faster in overweight individuals. There is also an increased risk of high blood pressure with each additional pound of fat.¹

Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) is the most common interference with healthy aging and long life in the modern world. Here are a number of proactive ideas and tips to help you prevent the problems associated with heart disease. The triad of primary risk factors is smoking (nicotine addiction), high blood pressure, and inflammation*. Even if your parents had high cholesterol or early heart disease, you can override, or at least delay, these influences with a proactive, healthy lifestyle.

A recent meta-analysis in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that magnesium could help reduce blood pressure.

Researchers at the University of Hertfordshire analyzed 22 studies that involved 1,173 people total to understand how magnesium affects blood pressure. Each of these studies supplemented anywhere from 120 mg to nearly a gram of magnesium, and lasted anywhere from three to 24 weeks.

Editor's Note: If you are interested in more information on Statin drugs and/or cholesterol please take the time to listen to Dr. Stephen Sinatra and Dr. Jonny Bowden on their new bestselling book "The Great Cholesterol Myth." John Barson, our online editor and radio host, interviews both authors on this life-saving topic.

Cholesterol-lowering statin medications like Lipitor® and Crestor® have been the #1 prescribed class of drugs in the U.S. for years. More than 215 million prescriptions add $14 billion to drug company coffers every year. A recent report from the government’s National Center for Health Statistics showed that an astounding 25 percent of Americans aged 45 and older take statins, compared to only 2 percent in 1994. ( The drugs came on the market in 1987.)

Cholesterol and Heart Disease

John Barson talks with Dr. Jonny Bowden about his new book The Great Cholesterol Myth-Why Lowering Your Cholesterol Won't Prevent Heart Disease--and the Statin-Free Plan That Will! Dr. Sinatra and Dr. Jonny Bowden prove CHOLESTROL HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH HEART DISEASE and that the medical community has been wrong all along.

Facts:

• Cholesterol is harmless and is only a minor player in heart disease.
• Cholesterol levels are a poor predictor of heart attacks.
• Half the people with normal cholesterol have heart disease while half the people with elevated cholesterol have perfectly healthy hearts.
• The true cause of heart disease is inflammation.
• The number one dietary contributor to heart disease is sugar, which is a far greater danger to your heart than fat.
• New studies suggest that statin drugs may be associated with a higher risk for cancer and diabetes.

I’m being sarcastic, right? The official health wisdom — the wisdom everybody knows is right (because all the top health officials repeat it over and over again) — is that if you “restrict” the salt in your diet, you’ll live longer.

That’s because (once again, according to those official pronouncements) your blood pressure will be lower, putting you at less risk for a heart attack or stroke, the #1 and #3 causes of death in the U.S.

In mid-2012, Nestlé Health Science acquired a stake in Accera®, the U.S. maker of Axona®, a medical food targeted at people with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s. Aside from the fact that the purchase shows that Nestlé is placing a strategic bet on the future direction of medical food demand, this acquisition also is interesting for its potential validation of a tropical oil that alternately has been damned and praised for its role in health: coconut oil.

A study published in Panminerva Medica reveals that a Pycnogenol and Coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) combination (PycnoQ10 ®) taken by stable heart failure patients as an adjunct to medical treatment naturally strengthens the heart, increasing the blood volume ejected with each beat. As a consequence, the oxygen-rich blood supply to the organs improves, and patients become more physically energetic. Furthermore, blood pressure, heart rate and respiratory rates were improved among patients. Pycnogenol (pic-noj-enall) is an antioxidant plant extract from the bark of the French maritime pine tree and has been clinically proven to improve endothelial function and blood flow. As evidenced by this study, Pycnogenol, in combination with CoQ10, offers a potent contribution to heart health management.

Hypertension or high blood pressure is a precursor to heart disease. High blood pressure that goes undetected or isn’t properly controlled can lead to heart attack, heart failure, kidney failure, stroke or premature death. According to the American Heart Association one in three U.S. adults suffers from hypertension, which if gone untreated leads to one in six deaths a year. Though the exact causes of rising blood pressure are not clear, studies show there is a strong association with age, family history, being overweight, a sedentary lifestyle, smoking, stress, and lack of sleep, to name a few of the findings. High salt intake, caffeine and alcohol have been shown to exacerbate the situation, leading to an increase in blood pressure.

Dear Pharmacist,

Heart disease runs in my family so naturally, I’m worried. A friend told me that brushing your teeth can prevent heart disease. I was polite, but I don’t believe him. Can this be true?