Heart Disease Discussion 2017

For all the research and millions spent, heart disease is still the primary cause of death and disability for both men and women and remains largely preventable. When you look at what people have in the shopping carts and see the drive-through line at fast food restaurants and donut shops, the death rate from CV disease is not really a mystery. If you wish to reduce your risk of cardiovascular disease you will need to learn what your body needs and make changes to make sure your body gets proper fuel and support.

CVD Remains the Number 1 Killer

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) consists of heart disease and stroke. Heart disease is the leading cause of death in the U.S and stroke takes the number three spot. 1 in 5 males and females, have one or more types of CVD. Heart disease is the number one killer of both men and women but 60% of women believe that cancer is their greatest health risk.

Stroke and Diminished Quality of Life

As bad as sudden death from stroke or heart disease can be, in my opinion worse is long term disability from these conditions. CVD can affect every area of life including the ability to perform basic activities of daily living. Everyone has activities that are important to them. It would be helpful to think of what is important to you and think of how your life would change if these were not in your repertoire anymore. Maybe you like to cook or maybe take walks or play music or paint. How much will your quality of life be decreased if you can't do these activities that are meaningful to you?

So you will encounter two problems. The first is knowing what is healthy for you and the second is actually making those changes.

Factors That Lower Risk of Heart Disease

It is thought that the risk of CVD can decrease by 80% if people maintain proper weight, follow a prudent diet, do not smoke, and participate in regular exercise and use supplements that make sense for your particular physiology.

Zone Diet Can Help

Many dietary factors play into the formation of CVD. Barry Sears did a lot of writing about this topic in the 90's and advocated a zone diet. He developed this system in order to keep himself alive as the men in his family tended to die suddenly before the age of 50 from heart disease. His research led him to adopt a 40-30-30 diet describing the percent of carbohydrates, fats and proteins in each meal with the actual amount of total food also being controlled. Making the shift to a Zone diet will take some effort on your part.

Following this type of diet can really help to optimize your HDL and LDL and their ratios. I would encourage you to spend some quality time with a Sears Zone Diet book.

Statins-Big, Big Business

Wouldn't it better to just take a pill? Statin sales exceed $10 billion per year. That's over $30 per year per man, woman and child in the U.S. It seems that every day a new study comes out touting some additional benefit of statins such as helping with macular degeneration or for treating heart problems in young people for example. The drug companies are scrambling to find other uses for statins.

Lots of debris is washing up on shore of people who have sailed off in that direction and we have witnessed some of this personally in family and friends. One dangerous issue is the rampant denial by medically trained professionals about the negative effects of statins. Usually, the patient or an observant family member is the one who connects the drug treatment with the dangerous effects.

Common Issues of Statin Use

Some commonly reported issues that arise are fatigue, dizziness, insomnia, chest pain, back pain, stomach pain, muscle pain, joint pain, arthritis and urinary tract infections. Let's not forget neuropathies from damage to the myelin sheath. The medical term is statin induced sensory peripheral neuropathy and has been addressed in medical literature for several years.

So, what happens if a person develops peripheral neuropathy that affects the soles of the feet. Now they find they can't get out and walk so there goes an important exercise option that the body needs to help keep the heart and mind healthy. Of course, the doctor sends this person to a neurologist who probably prescribes Neurontin without talking about the sudden onset of the neuropathy a few weeks after beginning the statin. Maybe the person's will power declines and their diet becomes worse.

CoQ10 Should Be Used with Statins

Fatigue and muscle aches and pains are associated with interference with energy production pathways that include blocking of coenzyme Q-10 or CoQ-10. EVERYBODY taking statins should be supplementing with CoQ-10, probably 200 mg or more per day.

Also troubling are numerous reports of memory loss. If you think about it, a few key traits are really important to being a human being and memory is one of them. Also troubling is some of this memory decline can persist after the statins are discontinued unless you figure out a way to repair the damage.

NO Support for Healthy Arteries

Recent studies are showing evidence of benefits of increasing nitric oxide (NO) via the addition of L-arginine and L-citrulline to your supplement program. The benefits to your cardiovascular system and also your nervous system is many. For some taking a good L-arginine and L-citrulline formula like Pure Encapsulations Nitric Oxide Support can help make arteries more flexible and also help in cleaning out plaques. This is a great prevention tool and can increase blood supply to the heart as well. Erectile dysfunction is often caused by narrowing and hardening of the small arteries supplying the penis. This is a sign of heart disease in its own right. Erection medication works by stimulating nitric oxide production. You can usually get the same result along with all those other good health benefits with the L-arginine and L-citrulline supplement. Check out the blog from last March at the link below for more information.

L-Arginine and L-Citrulline for Nitric Oxide Support

Things to Watch For

If you have already had a heart attack or stroke, you won't just jump into therapeutic doses of L-arginine. The body would need some time to adapt. I don't have data to back this up but if it were me, I would begin with maybe 1/8 scoop a day and work up slowly to a full scoop and then two to four scoops a day of Nitric Oxide Support over about 3 months. Jumping right to two scoops a day can actually increase your risk of a fatal heart attack if you are in that post heart attack phase.

Also, some people have noted an increase in herpes simplex outbreaks with higher doses of L-arginine. This seems to less of a factor with the L-arginine, L-citrulline combination but is still one of the possible downsides. If you have this issue, you can just dial back the supplement for a week or so during the outbreak. The benefits of taking the L-arginine L-citrulline formula are important enough to work with this. For some taking an anti-herpes drug occasionally is still better than not taking any nitric oxide support at all.

If you are risk for heart disease or stroke, you will either have to do some research yourself to see what dietary changes would be appropriate or find someone you trust to do that for you.

At OVitaminPro we want you to be to be free of cardiovascular disease. We can offer supportive supplements like Karuna CoQ-10, BetterGenix Cholestgenix, Cardiovascular Research Tocotrienols and Pure Encapsulations Nitric Oxide Support for example, links below!

Of course, these supplements play a supportive role to the lead role of diet and exercise.