Cardiovascular Disease Progression

I beg the indulgence of my readers. This information may be a little dull and boring but it shows the insidious nature of this disease that is so subtle, many times, in its approach, but so often deadly in its results. As I said in the beginning, much of the time, the first sign that you have heart disease is . . . . sudden death!











This picture shows a lengthwise cross section of an artery and actually illustrates the progression of cardiovascular disease. First, you have normal, healthy artery. Then early fatty streaks begin showing up which continue and grow. White and Red blood cells form an internal rupture within the endothelium (the lining of the blood vessels) and inflammation and calcification begin. A calcified shell forms around this lipid-rich plaque and, with scarring, calicified plaque develops. White blood cells accumulate to the point where the artery is vulnerable and there is a possibility of a rupture. This is what happend to Tim Russert. He didn't have much blockage (only about 40%) but it ruptured and, therefore, the first real sign of his problem was his death.

When a Thrombus and Myocardial Infarction occurs, doctors must go in and place a stent, which is a tube designed to be inserted into a vessel or passagway to keep it open. The other option is to put in a new vein or artery to bypass the damage.

How fast this progression occurs is determined by what we eat and what we assimilate!


Here we are comparing three cross-cut sections of arteries: First, a healthy blood vessel, where the endothelium is relaxed and the vessel is open. Second is a narrowed artery where constriction is occuring because of a lack of Nitric Oxide.

Nitric Oxide is what the endothelium produces to keep the arteries relaxed and vasodilated. This problem is compounded by the plaque build-up. But notice the third artery, where Nitric Oxide has been increased allowing for dilation. Even with the plaque still present, one can see how blood flow is increased!

In my next post I will discuss how our bodies produce this essential Nitric Oxide and what we can do nutritionally to enhance its production . . . . and . . . . . put a halt to Cardiovascular Disease Progression!

Endothelial Health

We've looked at the facts regarding the situation of heart disease in America today and now we begin to look at the science behind these facts. Why are we in this situation? What causes these problems. I'm no scientist. I'm not even a doctor. But the facts speak for themselves and there are some very excellent resources out there, available to the inquisitive mind. And, if you want a better life of physical health than, say, some of your friends and family have had . . . and maybe even yourself to this point. . . . let's take a look together.

Here is a cross cut section of an artery. The very thin lining inside the artery is called the Endothelium. This lining is only one cell thick, but if you took it out of all your arteries and spread it out over an area, it would be about the size of 6-8 tennis courts! This lining is where "the rubber meets the road", so to speak. This is where we have the ability to be healthy or unhealthy "cardiovascularly".

And where does your cardiovascular system not touch? Anywhere you bleed, if you are cut, is affected by your cardiovascular system and thus by your cardiovascular health!

If you have a nice, smooth, slick endothelium, then you have good artery flow. Especially if it is nice and pliable. If it begins to get stiff or clogged up, like with the plaque in this picture, then you have a problem.

The layer between the endothelium and the outer surface of the artery is the smooth muscle layer. What do you think happens if this layer constricts? For instance, if you are out in the cold and your hands, arms, feet and legs begin to get cold, what is happening? That muscle layer is constricting because of the cold, and is restricting the blood flow to those arteries because your heart, lungs, brain and other major organs require the extra blood flow.

You have about 100,000 miles of arteries in your body (some the size of your finger, some the size of spaghetti, and some the size of a 10th of the diameter of your hair!) You need all of your blood cells to be able to get through ALL of your arteries, so you need them to be soft and pliable: not constricted. Then, if you add the problem of plaque buildup, the blood flow is restricted even further.

I know you've heard the saying, "the Life is in the blood". It's true. It really is your life blood. And where blood does not flow because of whatever the problem, death occurs.

A healthy endothelium is like "Teflon": a smooth surface that enhances the flow of blood. Of course, we don't want "old teflon". What happens when teflon gets old? That's right. It begins to flake off and things start to stick to the surface. An unhealthy endothelium is like "Velcro", causing white blood cells and platelets to stick to it.


This book, entitled "The Cardiovascular Cure: How to Strengthen Your Self-Defense Against Heart Attack and Stroke" is written by John P. Cooke, who is an MD AND has a PhD, was the head of Stanford Medical Vascular Research at the time of the writing of the book and is now the head of Harvard Medical Research. I'll be using several quotes from this book as we go along with this series. As I said before, there are numerous resources out there: a host of books and hundreds of research papers have been written on this subject that we are examining.

I do not want to bore you, but I do want to impress upon you the seriousness of this apparent epidemic that plagues our country today. I also want you to know the why . . . . . and how YOU CAN PREVENT IT!

Next time, we will continue to look at how important to your life is your endothelial health!

The Facts

Let's look at the facts!

• Over one million die each year due to heart disease!

• Half of these are women!

• Every 60 seconds someone dies of a heart attack!

• The effect of heart disease is like SEVEN Boeing 747's crashing . . . . . with NO survivors . . . . EVERY DAY!

Just think about it! If we even had THREE 747's crashing every WEEK, what would they do to EVERY airport in the nation? You're right! They'd shut them down. The problem is: this is so common place . . . . and we think we have such a "perfect" way of dealing with this. Tim Russert is an example (from my last post) is an example of the fact that WE DO NOT! Our methods and, perhaps, our treatment is just not good enough . . . . obviously! But what if we could PREVENT this problem of heart disease?


And what about these additional facts?

• Nearly 80 million adults in the United States have Cardiovascular Disease.

• That's one in three!

• Every 36 seconds someone dies of a CVD. . . . .Wait . . . . didn't I say 60 seconds before? That was people who died of HEART ATTACKS. Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) includes many things, such as: stroke, hypertension (high blood pressure), and aneurysms, to name just a few.

And there's more. . . . .

Did you know that more people die from sudden cardiac death than AIDS (16,000), breast cancer (40,600) AND lung cancer (157,400) ALL combined?!*

• SCD accounts for 300,000 deaths each year - one every 60 seconds!*

• 95% die before reaching the hospital!

• 100,000 ATHLETES die each year from SCD!

• And 60% of youth are at risk for heart disease!

• And you think eating meat is a major cause? Did you know that the most common kind of death with vegetarians is CVD?!

• In fact, Heart Attacks kill more people than the next NINE causes of death COMBINED!
  

*Sources: NASPE, CDC, American Cancer Society

This is truly a problem here in America!

• CHD is the SINGLE largest killer of American males and females!

• EVERY 26 seconds an American will suffer a coronary event and every 60 seconds someone will DIE from one!

• About 38% who experience a coronary attack in a given year WILL DIE FROM IT!

• EVERY 45 seconds, someone in the US has a stroke!

• Strokes account for 1 of every 16 deaths in the US!

Do these facts scare you? Well, they should! No one is exempt. Tim Russert only had a 40% blockage! Remember, the number one sign that you have Cardiovascular Disease, many times, is SUDDEN DEATH!

These are The Facts! But there IS a way to PREVENT this dreaded disease! Stay tuned . . . . .

The Situation

It seems that nobody took the bait on my last post and answered the question about what the South American tribe did in response to their problem: Did they rebuild with concrete, move, poison the bugs, or do nothing and die early? They decided to do nothing and take the chance of dying early!

I want to give you a little true or false quiz:

1. The #1 concern of drug companies is your health. True or False
2. The #1 concern of stockholders of drug companies is your health. True or False
3. The #1 concern of stockholders of drug companies is to permanently fix your problem. True or False
4. The United States is 37th in health and longevity in the world. True or False
5. The United States is 4% of the worlds population. True or False
6. The United States consumes 43% of prescription and over-the-counter drugs. True or False
7. Most drugs have no side effects. True or False
8. In the U.S., between 100,000 - 150,000 die every year of improperly prescribed drugs and surgery. True or False
9. In the U.S., 500,000 men and 500,000 women die each year from cardiovascular disease. True or False
10. My insurance company will pay all my bills and pick an MD to make me healthy. True or False

Benjamin Franklin said, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."

Do you know what the number one killer in the world is today? Time Magazine called it "The Stealth Killer." Cardiovascular Disease, or CVD happens so insidiously that the first sign we have, many times, is sudden death. Hopefully, in this series, I can help educate you on why this is the case. I know you remember the newsman, Tim Russert. People Magazine revealed that Russert had a stress test at the end of April 2008 which was "normal". Russert's physician, Dr. Michael Newman, stated that "normal" meant that "At a high level of exercise he had no symptoms." He also said that Russert's blood pressure and cholesterol were "well-controlled" and that he exercised: in fact he worked out on a treadmill the very morning of his death. He died Friday, June 13, 2008. It was said that not only did Russert pass his stress test in late April but he could passed one an hour before his death!

Russert's case is not an isolated one. That is the frightening thing about this disease. There are many contributing factors to this phenomenon: lifestyle, diet, congenital factors, environment (just to name a few).

So this is the situation. Exactly how big is this health challenge we face in the US today? Next time, we will look at some facts that will perhaps show the extent of the challenge and then, in subsequent posts, we will begin to look at the science behind the problem and the solution.

Education is the key to finding a resolution to: The Situation.