Category: General

Stephen W. Parcell, ND   Despite the fact that heart attack is the #1 cause of death for Americans many people still do not understand how to prevent having one or how to work with their doctors to identify coronary artery disease or atherosclerosis early in life before it becomes dangerous. Atherosclerosis is an inflammatory condition of the artery wall. It affects the arteries of heart. We call this his coronary artery disease (CAD). If one of these coronary artery plaques breaks apart or ruptures a blood clot may ensue blocking blood flow to the heart muscle. High cholesterol is not the main cause of heart attacks. Just treating cholesterol prevents at best 30-40% of heart attacks. This is why it's very important to know more about risk factors and what you can do to stop plaque building or even reverse it. Most Americans think that if they don't have symptoms they are fine.  People typically say they went through their yearly physical and got a clean bill of health. They may have had an EKG or exercise treadmill test and since they passed that they think they are good to go. This is a problem because an EKG only shows electrical abnormalities...

As I was preparing to blog on this topic I ran across this article which is well written and sums up my thoughts on the issue. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jen-landa-md/testosterone-therapy_b_4709168.html  

Steve Parcell, ND Lipoproteins are a better measure of risk, and lipoprotein testing represents a new era in preventive cardiology. Just measuring LDL and treating it (while still somewhat effective) may not be enough for ultimate heart attack prevention, because it does not reflect lipoprotein size, density, or particle number. LDL and HDL are just not enough when it comes to evaluating your risk of a heart attack. This is particularly true if the small, dense LDL particle number is elevated. From here on I will refer to LDL particle number as LDL-P. Most of the cholesterol in your blood is not just freely floating around. Rather, it is in the form of a little ball called a lipoprotein. Apolipoproteins are the protein component of the lipoprotein. They play an important role in what cholesterol does in your body. There are six major classes of apolipoproteins, and several subclasses. The apolipoproteins determine what the lipoprotein will do and also determine the difference between HDL and LDL. The big red blob in Figure 3-3 is the apolipoprotein component of the lipoprotein. The apolipoprotein tells the cholesterol particle what to do and where to go, as well as determines if it’s going...

Fish oil contains both DHA and EPA. These are essential fatty acids for human health. They can be made from plant-based oils that contain alpha linolenic acid in foods such as nuts, flaxseeds, and leafy greens. But the conversion is not always easy to do in the human body.  Evidence is accumulating supporting a better effect from DHA over EPA for cardiovascular protection. DHA is more effective at lowering blood pressure and improving endothelial function. It is more effective for raising HDL and decreasing platelet adhesion and aggregation. Both EPA and DHA decrease triglycerides (TG) by approximately 14-35% depending on the TG levels and dose of EPA/DHA used.  Cholesterol comes in little particles called lipoproteins. Little ones cause problems, big ones are more protective and associated with less risk of stroke and heart attack. DHA is more effective for altering lipoprotein size because it is a more potent inhibitor of cholesterol ester transfer protein activity, an enzyme involved in lipoprotein particle size. In animal and human studies, DHA was more effective than EPA in reducing  blood pressure. DHA was also shown to be able to lower heart rate whereas EPA was not able to do this. Fish Oil and Trimethylamine...

Steve Parcell, ND Statins are either mainly lipophilic (fat loving) or hydrophillic (water loving). Those that have the least amount of blood brain barrier permeability include pravastatin, rosuvastatin and atorvastatin. 26% of cholesterol in humans is found in the brain. Studies indicate there is more benefit than risk when it comes to taking statins and even some improvement in patients with dementia. Just to be safe take one with the least blood brain barrier permeability as noted above. I take atorvastatin (lipitor) along with other cardioprotective nutracueticals