The Root Cause of Heart Disease

by Stephen Sinatra, MD

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Dear PN Associates:

Here is an excellent article -- "The Root Cause of Heart Disease" -- by Stephen Sinatra, MD, who is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology and a Fellow of the American College of Nutrition. He is board certified in internal medicine and cardiology and certified in anti-aging medicine, clinical nutrition, and bioenergetic analysis. At his New England Heart and Longevity Center in Manchester, Conn., Dr. Sinatra integrates conventional medical treatments with complementary nutritional and psychological therapies.

This is worth reading - for 2 reasons:

(1)- It gives a valuable education and a greater appreciation for the CAUSE of heart disease, and what we can do about it.

(2)- It gives further validation and appreciation for what 4Life Research is doing, with its breakthrough TFCardio product.

I hope you enjoy this as much as I did -- it's worth printing off.

Sincerely, Peter A.

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Every day, somewhere, in some office, a doctor is prescribing traditional CHOLESTEROL drugs for "high" (above 200) overall cholesterol numbers.

It's just so easy.

But it's also wrong.

Far too many doctors are prescribing STATINS, solely based upon cholesterol numbers, something I would rarely do. Many of them are blindly following the National Cholesterol Education Program guidelines and focusing primarily on a patient's LDL cholesterol level without enough emphasis on other potential risk factors.

While statins can be effective in reducing inflammation (I prescribe them in my practice to patients who have had heart attacks or other serious risk factors), their side effects can be significant. For this reason, I use them selectively. The most common statin-related problems are muscle aches or weakness, fatigue, memory and cognitive problems, sleep problems, and neuropathy (nerve damage). We physicians have also seen liver damage in some patients taking these drugs. There's also evidence of increased cancer risk.

And to top it off, a newly released study says that a largely vegetarian diet gives you the same results, with more side benefits and no side effects.

The media, along with many physicians and medical institutions, are finally coming around to what I've been saying for a long time — INFLAMMATION -- not cholesterol, is the root cause of most heart disease.

Inflammation's a Real Troublemaker.

Inflammation is the way your body defends itself against injury or infection. It's part of our natural healing process. But inflammation can sometimes go into overdrive and cause disease. Inflammation is also being recognized as the main culprit behind a wide range of diseases. Besides heart disease, it's now linked to cancer, strokes, Alzheimer's, allergies, asthma, diabetes, arthritis, Parkinson's, aneurysms, colitis, prostate problems, and others. Chronic inflammation is a warning that something is seriously out of balance with your health.

Unfortunately, most people (and many physicians) don't know the warning signs of inflammation, and don't know the best ways to treat it. The problem is — inflammation is invisible and silent until your body reacts to it. The fact that inflammation plays a role in causing illness began with the discovery that inflammation was a significant predictor of heart disease — far more accurate than cholesterol levels.

In a 2000 report on a landmark study done at Harvard University, it was shown that people with high levels of C-REACTIVE PROTEIN (CRP)—one of the primary markers of inflammation — were 'four times' more likely to have heart attacks than people with low levels. It was estimated that 25 percent of the U.S. population has elevated CRP levels, but normal to low levels of cholesterol. This means that millions of Americans may be unaware that they are at increased risk for future heart problems, even if they are routinely screened and treated for 'elevated cholesterol'.

Researchers then began to link C-reactive protein, and other markers of inflammation, to a wide range of chronic diseases. Interleukin-6, another such marker, may be an even greater predictor of inflammation. After all, it's interleukin-6 that stimulates the liver to produce CRP in the first place.

Inflammatory markers can be measured in the blood.

If you have one inflammatory condition, your odds of developing another go up significantly. For example, researchers have discovered that if you're a woman with rheumatoid arthritis, your risk of having a heart attack increases 100 percent. This research confirmed what I've suspected for years: low-grade 'inflammation' within the body is a fundamental cause of cardiovascular disease. It leads to a weakening and rupture of arterial plaques -- which in turn causes heart attacks and strokes. This contributes to why more than half of the people who have heart attacks and strokes have normal cholesterol levels.

After treating thousands of patients, I began to see that directly attacking inflammation — starting first with natural supplements, foods, and lifestyle changes—was the best way to treat and prevent cardiovascular disease. I also noticed that the natural treatments I was using not only improved my patients' hearts and arteries, but healed other areas of their bodies as well. Their stiff joints became more flexible. Their memories improved. Allergies disappeared. My patients' energy levels increased and they began to live a better quality of life than they ever thought possible.

What Causes Inflammation?

Chronic inflammation is caused by a variety of factors.
An imbalanced diet that is lacking in omega-3 fats is one such factor.
An overabundance of hydrogenated, trans fatty acids is another.
Environmental toxins including petrochemicals and cigarette smoke are others.
Obesity can also cause inflammation.
Medications such as hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and birth control pills can create inflammation.
It's also caused by viruses and infections including nanobacteria, chlamydia, herpes, and H pylori.
Stress can certainly cause inflammation due to the release of excess cortisol, a hormone that suppresses anti-inflammatory reactions.
And something supposedly as beneficial as a vaccination can also lead to inflammation.

It's virtually impossible to eliminate all of the sources of inflammation, but fortunately, they can all be treated naturally.

Minimize Inflammation the Natural Way...

There are several effective ways of minimizing or eliminating inflammation:

Exercise — Any exercise reduces inflammation (you can tell because the levels of the markers go down), and that's also probably why exercise is so effective at combating heart disease.
Adopt a Non-Inflammatory Diet — A low carbohydrate, high protein diet will curb inflammation. A high carb diet promotes inflammation. Foods such as white sugar, doughnuts, and cake are the worst.
Take Low-Dose Aspirin — One baby aspirin daily. However, stay away from aspirin if you have a history of hemmorhagic stroke, bleeding ulcers, hemorrhoids, or bleeding into the eyes. Aspirin is also out for people with diabetic retinopathy. Asthmatics should also avoid aspirin since it may bring on an asthma attack.
Get Essential Fatty Acids Through Fish Oil — To reduce inflammation, take enough pure fish oil in divided doses to obtain 500 - 1,000 mg DHA/EPA daily.[OK? His supplement has 300 mg of DHA + 200 mg of EPA = 500 mg fish oil per softgel. If he's talking 1,000 mg of just DHA, that's four softgels a day.]
Supplement with Natural COX-2 Inhibitors — You can get this through grapeseed extract (100-200 mg/day), and green tea (three cups of green tea day). Rosemary and oregano have great anti-inflammatory properties, as does quercetin, which is found in apples, onions, and black tea.
Detoxify — Rid your body of heavy metals and petrochemicals through sauna and other methods.
Supplement with Enzymes — Digestive enzymes.

If you have inflammation, or you've had a heart attack or suffer from some other serious risk factors, there are compelling reasons for you to take statins. But if you are taking any statins solely for cholesterol, I urge you to discuss the advisability of doing so with your physician.

Until next time,

Stephen Sinatra, M.D.

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