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Heart Disease
Cardiovascular disease: There Is More To Preventing Cardiovascular Disease Than Simply Lowering Your Cholesterol
Cardiovascular disease is an umbrella term for conditions that affect your circulatory system, such as heart disease, angina and stroke. Alarmingly, it is currently responsible for killing one in three people in the UK alone.
The good news is that because cardiovascular disease is such a massive problem it has been the subject of rigorous research and there are numerous proven measures you can take to help prevent it.
The main underlying cause of cardiovascular disease is a blockage in one or more of your arteries, which can be triggered by a number of factors. Smoking is one of the main culprits. It causes your arteries to harden, which inhibits your blood flow and can cause a blockage if a blood clot forms.
Obviously, it goes without saying that quitting smoking is one of the best things you can do to lower your chances of developing cardiovascular disease. Cutting down isnt enough, as even smoking just five cigarettes a day has been found to double your risk of heart disease.
Its also important to watch your weight and get active. Lack of exercise, obesity and high blood pressure all increase the likelihood of a blood clot as they slow the blood flow within your arteries and generally make your body less able to cope with any interruptions to your blood flow.
While conventional treatments can help they have serious drawbacks
Apart from the usual advice to lose weight, stop smoking and exercise more, as already mentioned, conventional medicine has little else to offer patients seeking to prevent cardiovascular disease.
Doctors sometimes recommend taking low, daily doses of aspirin, which helps thin the blood and reduces the risk of arterial blockages. However, long-term use of aspirin can cause gastrointestinal problems including abdominal bleeding.
If you are found to have high cholesterol which can cause your arteries to become blocked your doctor may prescribe a statin drug. While statins can help lower your cholesterol levels they can have numerous adverse effects including nausea, diarrhoea, headaches, muscle pains, liver damage, sexual dysfunction and decreased insulin sensitivity just to name a few.
Improve blood flow inside your arteries and lower your cholesterol without drugs
Garlic is a good alternative to aspirin, as it helps thin your blood without causing the drugs harmful side-effects. It is also able to lower high cholesterol, prevent blood clots from forming and generally improve the health of your arteries.
The recommended dosage is 1,000mg a day. The minerals selenium (15mg a day) and zinc (15mg a day) help boost garlics blood-thinning properties and also act as powerful antioxidants preventing toxic damage inside your arteries.
Artichoke extract has also been found to safely lower high cholesterol. In a small study scientists from the Department of Clinical and Experimental Medicine, University of Perugia, in Italy, evaluated the effects of 20ml of frozen artichoke juice a day on 18 patients who had moderately high cholesterol levels.
The patients were also on a cholesterol-reducing diet consisting of fruit and vegetables, bran, skimmed milk, oily fish, lean chicken and meat. They were compared to 10 patients who were on the same cholesterol-lowering diet but who did not receive the artichoke extract.
After six weeks of treatment, the scientists took blood samples from both sets of patients, and found that there was a significant reduction in cholesterol in the group receiving the artichoke treatment as compared to those who did not take it.
As a result, the scientists concluded that taking artichoke extract, in conjunction with a cholesterol-lowering diet, is an effective way to improve blood circulation and maintain healthy arteries. The recommended dosage for artichoke extract is 320mg a day.
Cholesterol isnt the only threat to your cardiovascular system
Mainstream medicine currently places too much emphasis on high cholesterol alone, as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. It is just as important to address other risk factors, if not more so.
For example, C-reactive protein (CRP) a substance produced by your liver in response to inflammation is considered by many medical experts to be a more reliable marker for cardiovascular complications than cholesterol levels. This is because atherosclerosis (narrowing of the arteries) requires inflammation to take place, so if CRP is elevated the stage is set for potential heart problems.
Omega 3 fatty acids, alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) in particular, have been found to help lower CRP in addition to improving blood flow in the arteries and preventing blood clots. Better still, omega 3 fatty acids have also been found to lower high triglyceride (blood fat) levels, which are another well-known cardiovascular disease risk factor.
As well as eating plenty of oily fish like salmon, mackerel and herring, you can increase your intake of omega 3 fatty acids by consuming more walnuts, flaxseed oil and spinach. Alternatively, you can take omega 3 fatty acids in supplement form in a product called Eskimo 3 the recommended dosage is three 600mg capsules with meals one to three times a day.
These nutrients help protect your blood vessels from damage
Another serious threat to your cardiovascular health is high levels of homocysteine an amino acid that promotes the build-up of plaque on your blood vessel walls, increasing your risk of a heart attack or stroke.
Studies have revealed that folic acid, vitamin B12 and vitamin B6 are able to prevent homocysteine from causing arterial damage by transforming it into a harmless substance called methionine in your body. The recommended dosage for folic acid is 400mcg taken twice a day, together with 1,000mcg of vitamin B12 and 50mg of Vitamin B6 a day.
Studies have shown that TMG (Tri-Methyl-Glycine) also called betaine, which is found in sugar beets, fish and legumes is able to bind to homocysteine and inactivate it. The recommended dosage for TMG is 500mg a day.
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Sources:
JAMA 2002; 288:973-979; Clin Nutr. 2005: 24(2):244-9
Journal of Nutrition, July 2004; Circulation. 2004 Apr 6;109(13):1609-14
Olthof MR, Verhoef P. Curr Drug Metab. 2005 Feb;6(1):15-22
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