Heart disease is the biggest killer in the world today. Half of us will die from it. Today it kills more women over 50 years old than it does men. In the past few years great strides have been made in treating heart disease in developed countries, through surgical and pharmaceutical intervention and by life-style modification, and the actual number of deaths has fallen. But not by anything like enough, it is still far and away the biggest killer there is.
And perhaps most chilling, for 50% of all those suffering a heart attack, the first symptom is death.
What that means is that a lot of people who think they are OK and don’t have any of the “normal” risk factors (classically : smoking, hypertension and elevated cholesterol) believe they are not at risk of having a heart attack.
It ain’t necessarily so and many of us are living in a fool’s paradise.
It’s time to look at the latest on what the risk factors really are and see what you can do to reduce them.
It’s not just Cholesterol....
Recent research has shown better diagnostic tools than measuring cholesterol for predicting cardiovascular risk. Mainstream medicine has adopted cholesterol lowering therapies as its first-line of defense against heart attack. Millions of people swallow statin drugs every day to keep their cholesterol low and drug companies campaign vigorously to get more people to take these medications. Scientific evidence shows, however, that measurements of an inflammatory marker in the blood called C-reactive protein (CRP) can yield better diagnostic information than measurement of cholesterol. Surveys show that people with high CRP are three times more likely to die of heart attack. The CRP test is inexpensive and simple. It can save your life but most doctors either don’t know about it or don’t perform it.
Cholesterol-filled plaques in blood vessels may not actually pose any real danger unless they are affected by inflammation, which is marked by the presence of C-reactive protein. People with normal levels of cholesterol often have high levels of C-reactive protein, which is one reason why so many people with normal cholesterol still get heart attacks.
The reason statin drugs may prevent heart disease may have not so much to do with the cholesterol-lowering effect but because they have an anti-inflammatory action. The anti-inflammatory effect of aspirin also, which has been shown to lower the risk of heart attack, may be due to this rather than it’s blood-thinning effect.
It’s What Kind of Cholesterol......
Most of us are aware of total cholesterol (TC) which is the usual figure given us. Many of us also know that LDL is the “bad” cholesterol we don’t want, that HDL is the “good” cholesterol we do, and that there’s something called triglycerides which is bad for us if the level is too high. Not so many of us know it, but that there’s more to it still. You can now test for what’s called Small LDL, which is the most lethal form of cholesterol there is. As if to balance this out, the best kind of cholesterol is a form of HDL known as HDL2B. This is the strongest form of protection against heart disease you can have, it actually helps unblock arteries.
Then there’s fibrinogen and homocysteine. High levels of the protein fibrinogen double your chance of heart attack, essentially by thickening your blood. Elevated levels of the amino acid homocysteine are as dangerous as elevated cholesterol. It oxidises LDL, causing arterial lesions leading to arterial blockages.
Electron Beam Tomography (EBT)
Until recently the standard means doctors had of telling whether you had heart disease or not was the “stress” test. They stuck electrodes all over you, plugged you into a machine and had you strut your stuff on a treadmill. This wasn’t very accurate. You could be one point below the level which showed up as heart disease and you would be classified as normal. In other words you could be walking the streets with 90% occlusion of the coronary arteries, a heart attack waiting to happen, and you’d be blissfully unaware how near to death you were.
The EBT scan measures the build up of calcium in the arteries that supply the heart with blood. It is the best means so far of showing whether and to what extent you have a cardiovascular problem. Anyone over the age of 40 would be well advised to take an EBT as a marker. Over the age of 50 I’d do it at least every 4 years.
Blood is the Front Line
Blood testing is the cornerstone of any program to keep you alive and healthy. Ideally you should do it once a year, but every two for sure, particularly if you’re concerned about heart disease.
Don’t let complacent or ignorant doctors put you at risk of heart disease or stroke. The following chart shows what to look out for. Don’t be fobbed off with so called “normal” levels either. THESE CAN KILL YOU!
“
Standard Reference Range”means what happens in the average population and since half the population will die of heart disease that’s not a place you want to be. Go for the “optimal” levels listed here.
BLOOD TESTS FOR CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE
Blood Test “Standard” Range “Optimal” Level
Fibrinogen up to 460 mg/dL under 300 mg/dl
C-reactive protein up to 4.9 mg/dL under 2 mg/L
Homocysteine up to 15 micro mol/L less 7 micro mol/L
Glucose up to 109 mg/dL under 100 mg/dL
Iron up to 180 mg/dL under 100 mcg/dL
Cholesterol (TC) up to 199 mg/dL* 180 - 220 mg/dL
LDL cholesterol up to 129 mg/dL under 100 mg/dL
HDL cholesterol no less than 35 mg/dL over 50 mg/dL
Triglycerides up to 199 mg/dL under 100 mg/dL
DHEA Males: not under 80 mcg/dL 400-560 mcg/dL
Females: not under 35 mcg/dL 350-430 mcg/dL
*Note 1:
Many studies say Total Cholesterol should be under 200. This can be misleading. It is more important to concentrate on suppressing dangerous LDL levels and increasing beneficial HDL in line with the Optimal ranges. If the other risk factors, homocysteine, fibrinogen and CRP are optimal a TC of up to 220 can be acceptable.
Note also that TC can be too low. A level of below 180 can actually be dangerous, increasing risk of hemorrhagic stroke and other diseases.
*Note 2:
For those with existing cardiovascular disease the “troponin 1” blood test is highly recommended. Levels over 0.4 ng/ml are considered high. This is an important measure when you consider recent research showed cardiac patients with high troponin were thirteen times more likely to die over a 3-year period.
Test also for small LDL and HDL2B.
The Statins
The statin class of drugs are today’s “miracle” drugs or “magic bullets”. The most well-known brands are Lipitor, Mevacor and Zocor. There is more and more research coming out every few months to show that in addition to their original cholesterol-lowering effect the anti-inflammatory action of these drugs helps prevent many other serious conditions. Doctors are now prescribing them very freely, almost preventatively. Many people are resigned to taking them for a lifetime. Wonderful as these drugs may seem, do not use them lightly. Not only are they expensive but they can and do have adverse side effects for some. And, it should be remembered, today’s magic bullet can turn into a poisoned one down the pike, as we’ve seen.
For those of you who are already taking statins you need to know that they depress your levels of CoQ10, a vital substance for maintaining heart structure and function, as well as overall cellular health. If you take statins you need to supplement with 60 to 200 mg of oil-based CoQ10 per day.
Heart disease like cancer and most other degenerative disease that afflict us today have been described as “optional” or “elective” diseases. That may be harsh, but there’s a large degree of truth to it. They can mostly be avoided by not smoking, exercise and a healthy diet. You can also prevent and in many cases even cure these conditions by taking the right dietary supplements, without the need or lessening the need for drugs. You just have to take the time to look into it properly.
More immediately, if heart disease is what kills so many of us off, doesn’t it make sense for anyone over 40 to get an EBT scan and do the blood test suggested above? If you are over 50, have any of the known risk factors or are already being treated for heart disease you’d be crazy not to. As I say, don’t be fobbed off with anything less, you want the full panel of tests mentioned.
Just like in business or life, it’s always the thing you didn’t see that comes out the blue and flattens you.....
