Heart attacks are the leading cause of death in the US, yet a hundred years ago they were a rarity. Artiosclerotic heart disease is a preventable disease that is nearly always reversable by living a health lifestyle. Heart attacks are an epigenetic disease caused by an unhealthy diet, lack of exercise, insufficient sleep, being overweight, being exposed to toxins in the enviorment, and stress. Only on rare occasions are there genetic factors ectched in stone that will ineveitably lead to heart disease. Inflammation is what starts the cascade of the events that lead to plaque formation in our arteries and makes our blood sticky, and there is a lot we can do to prevent it.
Once the heart is compromised by a significant heart attack, There is a lot that caan be done in modern medicine to stabilze the angina, congestive heart failure and rythms that charactorize heart disease from progressing. These options range from drugs to high tech surgical procedures. What modern medicine fails to recognize and deal with is the importance of lifestyle and it's amazing technology. Nutition of the heart is ignored most of the time. We must remember that the disease process is directly related to a defiecneny in energy production and that it is usually possible to improve energy production through lifestyle stratigies.
The causes, symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, and consequences of heart attacks are reviewed. Laboratory tests to assess the extent and dangers of arteriosclerosis are described and mainstream and alternative forms of treatment offered. Prevention and reversibility are reviewed.
All of the Health Assessments on DoctorSaputo.com have been developed to provide you with integrative and holistic medical information that may help you understand your health condition more fully and share our opinions about possible treatments you may choose to consider with your healthcare practitioner. All of our Health Assessments have been created by Dr. Saputo with the intent of taking just a few minutes of your time and, upon completion, providing instant emailed information in short audio and video files that are specifically related to your unique health condition as determined by the way you answered our simple questions.
A study in the April 2013 issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings documented that the amino acid L-carnitine significantly improves cardiac function after a heart attack. Apparently, l-carnitine is depleted after a heart attack and, if corrected, results in a 27% reduction in all-cause mortalitiy, 65% fewer dangerous ventricular arrhythmias, 40% reduction in the development of angina, and a smaller sized infarct. It probably also reduces the number of re-infarction, and the development of congestive heart failure.
Heart attacks are preventable through a healthy lifestyle. An unhealthy lifestyle leads to inflammation and the development of arterial plaque. Tests for early detection and risk factors are reviewed. Approaches for prevention are described.
Even though there is abundant evidence that people with low protective HDL cholesterol are at risk for heart attacks, a large new study refutes this myth. People with high HDL in this study of 70,000 people had a much lower incidence of heart attacks, but people with a genetic defect in producing HDL and had a low level in this study did not have an increased incidence of heart attacks. Thus, HDL by itself is not protective for heart attacks.
A study published in the journal, Circulation, in February of 2012 showed that over a 10 year follow up period, that people with the highest BPA levels had 33% increase in the risk for heart attacks. The study compared BPA measurements in 758 people who were initially healthy but later developed heart disease with 861 people who remained heart disease free. They found that the risk for heart attack over 10 years was much higher in those patients with the highest BPA found in their urine.
Environmental toxins such as dioxins, PCBs, and pesticides can increase the risk for heart attacks and strokes. These fat soluble toxins accumulate in blood vessel walls and are slow to be excreted. We need to clean up our environment and practice intelligent detoxification if we want to deal with this potentially massive issue.
