LifeCare Chiropractic

The Best Chiropractic Care in Mesa, Arizona

Heart Disease

Can a Simple Mineral Beat Statins for the Heart?

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There are times when it seems like the only answer in medicine is another drug.  For heart stuff this is unquestionably statins.
Have high cholesterol?  Take Lipitor.  Have a family history of heart disease?  Take Crestor.  Your dog’s litter mates’ cousins’ owner had a heart attack?  Take atorvastatin.
You get the idea.
But when it comes to natural approaches which are JUST as powerful without a long list of potentially fatal side effects, it seems like “we just need more research.”
In this particular study, we see a simple approach…those with the highest levels of magnesium in their bloodstream had a 40% reduced risk of suffering sudden cardiac death.
At a cost that is just a fraction of even a generic statin and no side effects when taken orally.

 

Common Heart Treatments Increase Heart Disease??

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You follow your cardiologist’s advice, thinking it will protect you in the long run.  But what if this is not the case?

It will come to no surprise for regular readers of my blog that I think that lifestyle changes are the ONLY answer for heart disease.  Unfortunately, many patients opt not to make the right changes, or worse–these changes are not even discussed with patients because of a lack of knowledge on the part of the provider.

This particular study looks at outcomes of medical treatment (i.e. drugs), coronary angioplasty (PCI) or open heart surgery (CABG) ten years later.  Here’s the disturbing findings after following 611 patients who had CABG, PCI or standard medical therapy (MT=drugs):

  • 10-year rates of needing additional invasive procedures (revascularizations) were 7.4% with CABG, 41.9% with PCI, and 39.4% with MT.
  • Those in the drug only group had a 235% higher risk of future cardiac events (including deaths) than in the CABG group.
  • Those in the PCI group had a 185% higher risk of future cardiac events than in the CABG group.
  • 10-year rates of freedom from angina were 64% with CABG, 59% with PCI, and 43% with MT (P<0.001).

The bottom line?  Medical treatment or PCI actually INCREASED the risk of the need for more stents, heart attacks and / or cardiac death.

Wow.  I know that it SOUNDS like doing procedures is a good thing and it all seems well and dandy on paper, but when translated to the patient the outcomes just don’t work out.  So it boils down to having your sternum cracked open and some blood vessels taken from another area of your body to replace the disease ones that are needed to get nutrients and oxygen to your heart.

Or…

Eat better / stress less / exercise.  Hmmm…tough decision…

Info on Heart Failure Your Cardiologist Probably Doesn’t Know

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Prevent heart disease
McCarony/Dollar Photo Club

Heart disease remains the biggest killer in the Western world. This is despite billions of dollars pumped into this condition.

Billions of dollars into research, drug development, drug use and cardiology procedures. And yet, all we have to show for it is a slight reduction in deaths from heart disease, but an increasing number of people living with heart disease.

What this tells me is that we are getting better at keeping people alive who have had a heart attack, but we still suck at doing anything to keep people from getting there in the first place.  Most cardiologists and primary care doctors would point to the statin class of drugs as the singlemost important discovery in cardiologist ever.

Which pretty much explains why we’re in the mess we’re in because statins pretty much suck at preventing heart disease. Period. (in case you think this isn’t true, I’d invite you to read through my 100+ page eBook on cholesterol and we can talk after that…)

One thing we HAVE discovered from all the billions of dollars that have gone into cardiovascular research is that heart disease is almost 100% preventable.

Yup.

Seems hard to reconcile that the #1 killer in the Western world is almost entirely preventable. All we need to do is exercise more and eat better.

Except that it’s not quite that simple.

At the surface, yes, healthy dietary choices, not smoking and exercising regularly will eliminate a huge chunk of heart disease in this country. Then there’s the specifics, things like:

  1. Short burst aerobic exercise instead of merely walking 30 minutes a day
  2. More healthy fats (monounsaturated, omega-3) instead of trans and omega-6 fats
  3. Managing stress
  4. Avoiding refined carbohydrates and eat more whole grains
  5. Avoiding toxic environmental chemical exposure like BPA

But sometimes the answers are far more complex. And way beyond the realm of the average cardiologist.

You see, the human body has never respected the artificial boundaries of medical specialties that we have created. The examples of neurology crossing into gastroenterology, endocrinology crossing into cardiology and obstetrics crossing into psychology are all over the place.

This particular article is no different. In it, researchers looked at 60 stable patients with mild CHF (half with NYHA functional class I to II) and moderate to severe CHF (half with NYHA functional class III to IV) and evaluated the composition of the inhabitants of the gut. Here’s what they found when these heart failure patients were compared to normal patients:

  • The entire heart failure population had massive quantities of pathogenic bacteria and Candida.

You can bet these findings will be the key topic of discussion at the next joint Cardiovascular / Gastroenterology convention.

(Yeah, don’t hold your breath waiting for the invite to this event…)

But seriously, these are some VERY striking differences between the heart failure patients and the normal participants. The question is whether the changes in the gut were the cause or the result of the chronic heart failure.

As with everything, the answer likely lies somewhere in between. We already have strong evidence that the bacteria in the gut contribute to obesity and diabetes. It would not be a big stretch to link bad bacteria balance in the gut with the later development of heart disease.

Personally, I’ll keep an eye on the research as it comes out over the next few years linking the gut bacteria and heart disease. In the meantime, I would do everything possible to make sure I’m living a lifestyle that is consistent with a healthy bacterial flora in the gut as well as avoiding antibiotics in all but the most life-threatening situations.

Your heart will must likely thank you for it.

Does Your Cardiologist Perform this Invasive Procedure?

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If you have any interactions with a cardiologist, this is a must read.  And read VERY carefully.

Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is the procedure where a stent is (almost always) placed into a coronary artery.  Most know this as coronary angioplasty.  This procedure largely did not even exist a decade ago (it began to blossom in the late 80’s, but it seems to me like the past decade has seen major increases).   It has created an entire field within cardiology called interventional cardiology.

It has been established that coronary angioplasty for non-emergency chest pain really does nothing but makes the patient feel better temporarily, until they actually have a heart attack sometime in the near future.  To make this a little more problematic, this is NOT a cheap procedure (runs around $35K) and has its list of side effects, including death.

But does your cardiologist know this?  In this particular study, researchers asked this very same question of a group of 27 cardiologists (10 interventional and 17 referring).  Here’s what they found:

  • 63% of cardiologists surveyed agreed that PCI is ONLY good for symptom relief.  Symptom relief only.
  • Almost 3/4 of patients felt that, without the PCI, they would definitely suffer a heart attack in the next 5 years
  • 88% of patients, however, mistakenly believed this procedure would prevent a future heart .  Talk about a disconnect!
  • The real deeper problem here, however, is that, despite the fact that this procedure would only manage symptoms and not really fix anything, 43% of cardiologists would STILL PERFORM THE PROCEDURE!!

Yes–almost half of the cardiologist would still perform a $35,000 procdure with death as a potential side effect that does little other than help with chest pain.

And your insurance will gladly pay for it.  No wonder our system is so screwed up!

Have I Mentioned that Prediabetes is Bad for the Heart?

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I have said before that, from my standpoint, diabetes and heart disease are the same thing.
Seventy percent of diabetics die of cardiovascular causes.   Almost all heart disease sufferers have some trace of diabetes or prediabetes.  The lifestyle changes that impact one impact the other, both negative and protective.
In the medical research over the past few years, there has been a very strong push towards using a compound called brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) to estimate risk for heart attacks and strokes.
In this particular study, research found that the more prediabetic factors someone had, the higher his or her levels of BNP.
You can rest assured that this is because a drug to control BNP levels would then be a brand new blockbuster drug worth untold billions of dollars.  In the end, this would really just create another drug to dance around the problem of insulin and the cell not playing well together and not actually fix anything but a number found on bloodwork.
Just like blood pressure meds, diabetic drugs and statins for cholesterol.

So this Artery Walks Into a Bar…

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We all know that laughter is good for the soul, but did you know it was good for your arteries as well?

I guess the downside of this is that many of us in today’s society are under so much stress that we can’t really enjoy life, let alone let go and find laughter deep inside us.  We’re constantly focused on how many things are going wrong instead of how much positivity and joy we have around us.

Research has demonstrated that this stress begins to affect our children as well and increases their risk of depression later in life.  I know that since Keegan was young he frequently notes what a beautiful day it is and I always remind him of how lucky he is (about everything!) and how great life is.  Getting him started early on finding the joy in life and not having it squashed out of him…

I’ve heard it said that children laugh more than 100 times / day.  Adults?  A sad 15 times / day.

But what if the simple act of laughter was good for your blood vessels?  This particular study asked just this question.  Researchers took 17 healthy adults (23 to 42 years of age) and had them watch either 30 minutes of a comedy or a boring documentary.  Here’s what they found:

  • Heart rate and blood pressure increased while watching the comedy (no changes while watching the documentary).
  • Blood vessel health (as measured by ischemia-induced brachial artery flow-mediated vasodilation) increased 17% while watching the comedy.
  • Blood vessel health decreased 15% while watching the documentary.
  • Carotid arterial compliance (by simultaneous application of ultrasound imaging and applanation tonometry) increased 10% immediately after watching the comedy and took 24 hours to return to pre-comedy levels.

So, the next time you think about turning on the Hallmark channel, your heart and blood vessels may better appreciate watching Jeff Dunham instead.

Do Migraines Increase Your Risk of Dying?

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Let me clarify this once more.  Those experiencing migraines have something wrong with their physiology that just so happens to manifest as headaches.

The headaches are the downstream consequence of the problem, and are NOT the problem itself.  So to fix the problem, you need to look upstream and fix what is wrong.  If you experience migraines and your doctor has NOT talked to you about the absolute need to change your lifestyle, you should find a new doctor.  Period.

Just in case you think this is a strong statement, pay attention to this particular study.  In it, researchers looked at 18,725 men and women to see if migraine sufferers had a higher risk of dying from any cause (all-cause mortality).  Here’s what they found:

  • People with migraine with aura had a 21% higher risk of dying from any cause.
  • People with migraine with aura had a 27% higher risk of dying from heart disease.
  • People with migraine with aura had a 40% higher risk of dying from a stroke.

This is a pretty strong concern.  And let me clarify again that taking medications to control your headaches (even if they work) will do NOTHING to alter your risk of these conditions because they haven’t actually fixed the problem.

But My Trainer Tells Me I Need to Eat More Protein…

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The problem is that many trainers don’t differentiate between the types of protein, and the differences can be striking.

Protein intake after exercise has been shown to help with building muscle mass faster.  But your choice of proteins can make a big difference in your long term health.  It is very well accepted that higher intakes of animal-based proteins increase your risk of cancer.

But what about heart disease?

This particular study looked at the type of protein intake and the risk of heart disease.  Here’s what they found:

  • One serving per day of nuts was associated with a 30% lower risk of heart disease when compared with 1 serving per day of red meat.
  • Low fat dairy lowered risk by 13%  (again when compared with red meat).
  • Chicken came in at a 19% lower risk.
  • Fish at a 24% lower risk.

However, given that this study was performed in the US, we have to assume that the authors were looking at the corn fed, abused, antibiotic-laden livestock grown here vs organic, grass fed or wild game, which would definitely change the results.

Regardless, the level of protection for the heart for the nuts and fish is quite hefty.  Macadamia nut encrusted halibut anyone?  Hold the mercury, of course…