In part one of this series, I questioned whether or not the ongoing travesty that is heart attack morbidity and mortality in our world today is at least in part due to the fact that the conventional treatment approach is not fully addressing all of the underlying causal factors contributing to this condition. I also brought up some questions about cardiovascular disease that are unanswerable using the theory that elevated LDL particles are in and of themselves the sole or primary cause of this condition. Finally, I discussed a way of viewing the cause of this condition that would allow for answers to these questions and thus provide a more thorough way of addressing it.
Here were my parting thoughts:
“If we are to be as thorough as possible in our efforts to prevent heart attacks, we should not stop at trying to lower cholesterol carrying molecules like LDL, using drugs or even supplements. In fact, a good argument can be made that the primary focus should instead be the conditions which allow for them to become a problem.”
Here is what I mean….
One of my teachers along the way, Dr. Mark Houston of the Hypertension Institute in Nashville, Tennessee, always stresses the ideas of “infinite insults” when discussing the contributors to the process of cardiovascular disease, when aiming to describe a more thorough, comprehensive way of preventing and treating it.
“Infinite insults” is a term Dr. Houston uses to describe in general how many various things that can harm the structure and/or function of your endothelium, or the inside lining of your blood vessels. Your endothelium plays a crucial role in the potential, or lack thereof, for plaque to form in your arteries. A healthy, resilient, and robustly functioning endothelium can indeed make it much more difficult for this process to develop, whereas endothelial DYSfunction can serve as a breeding ground for it.
Certainly, excessive levels of atherogenic cholesterol carrying molecules, like the infamous LDL or ‘bad cholesterol’, can simultaneously serve as building blocks to plaque formation and can contribute to the infinite insults to the endothelium, but elevated levels of the following can also powerfully ‘insult’ your endothelium, and further set the stage for problems to arise:
Oxidative stress
Inflammation
Blood sugar
Homocysteine
Iron
Insulin
More obscure factors such as Lp(a), TMAO, endotoxins, heavy metals, various types of bacteria, viruses, and other microorganisms
Many more (hence the term “infinite”)
Therefore, a truly thorough approach in the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular disease should always include assessment for the presence of as many of these factors as possible.
Of course, once identified, every effort should also be made to try and reduce exposure to these insults. However, due in large part to the all but impossible task of identifying and avoiding them all, if one is to be as successful as possible in preventing, halting, or reversing plaque development, an additional concept which must be considered is “susceptibility”, as it pertains to the vascular endothelium itself.
In other words, if we are evaluating for the potential of damage to occur to a structure the most thorough evaluation would not only include assessment of factors which can harm the structure (in this case the endothelium), but also the structure itself, and how susceptible, or vulnerable to damage it is.
In this case then, what would increase the endothelium’s susceptibility to damage?
One of, if not the most impactful contributor to this is nutrition. In other words, superior nutritional status (from a variety of angles) which assesses and accounts for both predisposing genetic factors, as well as specific nutrients crucial to optimal production and function of blood vessel linings, may provide the most bang for your susceptibility buck and exponentially reduce risk much further than just taking a prescription.
These nutrients include:
Amino acids- Arginine, Lysine, and Proline
Macrominerals- Potassium, Calcium, and Magnesium
Vitamins- A, B Complex, E, and especially C
Trace Minerals- Copper, Zinc, and Manganese
Phytonutrients- Nitrates, Flavonoids and other Antioxidants
For various reasons, nutritional therapy should always endeavor to obtain important nutrients through food whenever possible. In terms of those noted above, it is not surprising that the primary sources of all them can be found in what is popularly termed a ‘whole food, plant-based diet’, an approach to eating found to have a particularly high potential for efficacy in preventing and combating cardiovascular disease. It is also of interest to note that a high intake of processed foods, and many types of animal-based foods can directly, or indirectly provide a steady supply of all noted insulting factors above.
There have been other approaches to eating that are not expressly “plants only”, but shown at least partially effective, relative to a whole food plant based diet, such as the Mediterranean diet, but they typically utilize high amounts of plant foods, low to moderate amounts of animals foods, and very little processed foods. Whether or not they are as effective as a well-planned, thoroughly implemented whole food plant based diet is still up for debate, but some studies suggest “(whole food) plants only” may be the best bet of all.
Hopefully by now it is becoming clear that if the version of “prevention” employed in order to avoid the development of arterial plaque, and potentially the most common cause of death in the world, starts and finishes with an aspirin and a statin or other cholesterol lowering drug, a tremendous opportunity to further reduce risk is being completely missed.
Why? Well, that should be obvious by now. Drugs, by their very nature, do not and cannot satisfy unmet needs the body may have. They also may not offset the negative effects of many of the noted insulting factors above, and they may not adequately reduce susceptibility to this disease to the degree possible when nutrition is also, or alternatively employed. Instead, they’re designed to make up for the negative effects of these crucial factors; to simply put a band-aid on a poorly healing, dirty wound that needs cleaning, in a body that needs better nutrition.
Looking at the statistics, it is obvious. This disease is running rampant. Only a thorough approach, which may or may not need to include such drugs, will serve to provide truly adequate protection from its grasp. ____________________________________________________________________________
**If you or someone you know is interested in going above and beyond the efforts typically recommended to prevent heart attacks, please check out my offerings at vital-human.com
I read it-anything else I can do to reverse or at least-not getting worse whatever heart healthy things to help. I really want to see my grandchildren thrive as long as I can! and all of my family too. Any ideas tell me Thursday when I see you