LifeCare Chiropractic

The Best Chiropractic Care in Mesa, Arizona

CVD

EARLY COMPLICATIONS OF CHILDHOOD OBESITY – (02-11-07)

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Elevated C-reactive protein in Native Canadian children: an ominous early complication of childhood obesity

I hate to be the guy on the soapbox chanting “The end is near” to everyone who walks by, but there will soon be a serious price to pay for the poor lifestyles our children are living.  I personally feel that, with every generation, we see the chronic disease onset earlier and earlier.

This particular studies finds that, in Native American children, a large percentage of children studied had risk factors for diabetes and CVD that would be a bad sign in adults.  In children it is a death sentence for early mortality.  These kids will not live to see 60.  Period.  Until we wake up and take an aggressive stance, we won’t see this trend reverse anytime soon.

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INFLAMMATION – A MAJOR PLAYER IN CVD – (01-21-08)

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Comparison of Characteristics of Future Myocardial Infarctions in Women With Baseline High Versus Baseline Low Levels of High-Sensitivity C-Reactive Protein

While the research is plentiful, the concept that inflammation is a major player in CVD has been slow to catch on. This study is just another that adds to the research, with some additional tidbits added in. The higher the hsCRP levels, the sooner healthy women had heart attacks and the more likely these women were to experience a fatal heart attack. The real kick in the glut region is that the use of statin drugs to lower cholesterol probably is not having its impact on CVD risk via cholesterol, but rather by acting as an anti-inflammatory.

However, there are many other, much more potent, means of lowering inflammation that don’t involve medications that lower levels of CoQ10, an absolutely essential nutrient for healthy cell function.

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HOW TO IMPROVE HEALTH AND LOWER RISK OF CHRONIC DISEASE? – (02-25-08)

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Effects of modified alternate-day fasting regimens on adipocyte size, triglyceride metabolism, and plasma adiponectin levels in mice

While this is a mouse study, it does add weight to the concept of calorie restriction without nutrient restriction as being a viable tool for improving health and lowering risk of chronic disease.

This particular study compared calorie restriction with alternate day calorie restriction (50% less calories every other day) and found the impact on markers of CVD risk similar. This is very important, because alternate day calorie restriction is an approach that many people would find acceptable for long term risk management.

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RISK OF HEART DISEASE INCREASES EVEN AFTER CHECKING CHOLESTEROL – (03-17-08)

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Apolipoprotein A-II Is Inversely Associated With Risk of Future Coronary Artery Disease

There are many patients running around who have experienced heart attacks or blocked coronary vessels that were told that there were no reasons why this happened to them. What they usually mean is that their total and LDL cholesterol levels were not elevated and they had no high blood pressure. However, The reality of CVD risk factors runs so much broader than that. I truly believe that all patients with heart disease have some type of well established risk factor; the problem is that their cardiologist may not have known where to look.

This study just adds more information to the picture of heart disease, and again establishes the fact that just checking for total, HDL and LDL cholesterol is very outdated and will miss many patients with developing CVD.

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IS THE ASSOCIATION THIN IN LINKS BETWEEN LDL CHOLESTEROL LEVELS AND HEART DISEASE? – (08-25-08)

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Influence of oxLDL on the Viability of Osteoblastic Cells

While much hoopla has been generated about the links between LDL cholesterol levels and heart disease, in reality the association is thin. However, once LDL gets damaged and becomes oxidized (oxLDL), the links to heart disease now become much stronger. Of course, much like every other chronic disease, there are many metabolic abnormalities in common between disease states. If you’re at risk for one, you’re at risk for them all. Great news, huh?

In this study, researchers found an association between oxLDL levels and the health of the cells that create bone, thus connecting one link between CVD and osteoporosis. Again makes you question the logic of using a single drug to impact one single pathway of a chronic disease (i.e. anti-resporptive agents for osteoprosis, statins for cholesterol).

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BASIC LIFESTYLE CHANGES DRAMATICALLY REDUCE CARDIOVASCULAR BURDEN – (11-17-08)

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Angina Pectoris and Atherosclerotic Risk Factors in the Multisite Cardiac Lifestyle Intervention Program

In 12 wks, 74% of patients in this study that started with angina were angina free. 74%. These are all patients who likely would’ve had cardiac catheterization and stent placement. Many of these patients would then go on to open heart bypass surgery.

Again and again we see studies proving that basic lifestyle changes dramatically reduce cardiovascular burden. And we’re not talking about taking Vit E and checking for heart attacks in 4 years. We’re talking about lifestyle changes that include multiple plant-based dietary changes, exercise, non-smoking and stress management. And these changes will have impacts across other disease states as well, unlike cardiovascular procedures and medications.

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INCREASED EXPOSURE TO STATINS IN PATIENTS DEVELOPING CHRONIC MUSCLE DISEASES – (11-24-08)

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Increased exposure to statins in patients developing chronic muscle diseases: a 2-year retrospective study

While we’re on the topic of well accepted by the public but poorly represented in the literature we need to bring up the statin class of drugs. Despite the fact that every (I’m generalizing here…) primary care doctor in this country feels that “prevention” of heart disease means using a statin drug, the research on its efficacy for primary prevention of CVD is almost nil. As if this wasn’t bad enough, the research on the side effects slowly continues to mount.

This study looks at patients who have been diagnosed with chronic muscle disease (polymyositis, dermatomyositis, etc..) and found that these patients had a much, much higher chance of having had exposure to statins (2.73 times the risk), and this risk went up even higher when these patients also had used proton pump inhibitors for control of stomach acid production.

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USE OF THIAZOLIDINEDIONES AND FRACTURE RISK – (11-24-08)

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Use of Thiazolidinediones and Fracture Risk

Continuing on the rant against medication usage in diabetes management, the TZD class of drugs has been shown to increase weight and actually increase the risk of cardiovascular events (70% of diabetics die of CVD-related causes) in patients using them. To top off this wonderful list of side effects, now we’re seeing an over double the risk of fractures in patients who have used these drugs over 12 months. Again and again, we see that lifestyle changes really, truly are the ONLY answer.

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