Reconstructed 3-D images of a normal
heart and coronary arteries from a
64-slice CT scan. (From a University
of Pennsylvania Health System
news release.)
"What about the majority of people who don’t have a sky-high heart-scan score? Too often, they’re prescribed a cholesterol drug and patted on the back with advice to cut the fat in their diet. According to several recent studies, that’s a recipe for failure."
By Dr. William Davis
CT heart scans are booming in popularity. Not a week passes without several new scan centers appearing on the landscape. With over 300 scanners nationwide, over one million Americans have now been scanned since the technology was introduced around 10 years ago and are proud owners of their very own heart scan “score.”
In some cases, lives have been saved. People with high scores (e.g., over 1,000) sometimes end up with lifesaving procedures like bypass surgery or stents.
But what about the majority of people who don’t have a sky-high score? Too often, they’re prescribed a cholesterol drug and patted on the back with advice to cut the fat in their diet. According to several recent studies, that’s a recipe for failure. If you do nothing, you can expect your score to increase 30 percent per year. Take your cholesterol drug and cut your fat, and you can still expect your score to grow 30 percent per year!
Surely there’s a lot more you could do to gain control over your score. After all, an increasing score means that coronary atherosclerotic plaque is growing, inching closer to heart attack.
Here’s our list of five steps you can take to tip the odds in your favor that you will not just stop your score from increasing, but perhaps even reduce it.
1. Take fish oil
Fish oil is among the few breakthrough discoveries of the past 20 years that has altered the course of cardiovascular illness, slashing risk of death, heart attack, and stroke. The misguided advice of the '80s, and '90s that polyunsaturated oils were good for us has left us appallingly overloaded with omega-6 fatty acids, and omega-3 supplementation from fish oil has assumed increasing importance.
The 11,000-participant GISSI-Prevenzione trial brought any remaining naysayers to their knees. Participants taking fish oil experienced 30-percent reduction in cardiovascular death and an astounding 45-percent reduction in sudden death.
Fish oil provides anti-inflammatory benefits, stabilizes plaque, and corrects many genetic and acquired causes for heart attack. In particular, triglycerides and “small LDL” have ballooned in importance as causes for heart disease as more Americans (50 million!) develop the metabolic syndrome, or pre-diabetes. Fish oil helps correct the triglyceride and small LDL abnormalities triggered by the metabolic syndrome.
2. Take vitamin D
Imagine that over half the adults in the U.S. were toothless and had open skin sores covering their bodies from vitamin C deficiency (scurvy). Well, that’s the situation, though less graphic, with vitamin D. Deficiency is rampant in the U.S., particularly in northern climates where sun exposure is in short supply for long periods. It’s not uncommon even in southern climates, given indoor workplaces and lifestyles. Vitamin D deficiency has been implicated in osteoporosis, prostate and colon cancer, hypertension, multiple sclerosis, and heart disease.
The higher your heart scan score, the more likely you are deficient in vitamin D. Consider taking a minimum of vitamin D 1,000 units per day. Even better, have your doctor check a blood level (25-OH-vitamin D3) and the dose can be adjusted accordingly. (In our heart-disease reversal program, most women require 2,000 units per day, most men 3,000 units per day to achieve the desirable blood level of 50 ng/ml in a northern climate.)
3) Get your HDL cholesterol to 60 mg/dl
Raise this simple value to 60 mg/dl or greater, and you will have accomplished a huge improvement in a whole constellation of health effects.
This is because HDL is a gauge of many things: body weight, your body’s ability to respond to insulin, potential for hypertension, and the presence of hidden causes of heart disease, especially the dreaded small LDL. The higher your HDL, the less likely these undesirable phenomena are. HDL is the blood particle that is responsible for regression, or shrinkage, of plaque. The more, the better.
Boost HDL by losing excess weight, reducing processed carbohydrates like breads and breakfast cereals, exercise, 4-to-8 ounces of red wine per day, and fish oil. Raise it even further by considering niacin (vitamin B3), 500–1000 mg. (Discuss niacin use with your doctor.)
4) Have a colorful lifestyle
Deeply colored foods are rich in flavonoids, naturally-occurring substances that pack broad, powerful health effects that include blood pressure-reducing and anti-inflammatory benefits.
Add more deeply colored foods to your day, especially blueberries, plums, black grapes, spinach, green peppers, and red wine. Drink green tea whenever possible. Use cocoa powder (unsweetened) in your protein shakes or add a daily two-inch square of dark chocolate. Add capers, fresh basil and other herbs to your salads and dinner dishes.
5) Substitute raw nuts for unhealthy snacks
Dump the chips, pretzels, and crackers and replace them with raw almonds, walnuts, and pecans. (Not "party mix," “honey-roasted,” mixed nuts, etc., however.) Raw is the key, bought bulk in most supermarkets or health food stores. This simple substitution will reduce LDL cholesterol 20 points, reduce blood sugar, reduce small LDL, raise HDL, and boost your energy level. Don’t sweat the fats--the monounsaturated fat in raw nuts is the source of much of the benefit. One-quarter to one-half cup per day provides maximum benefit.
Will these five steps guarantee that your heart scan score won’t skyrocket? No, unfortunately not. But they are important pieces of an overall program to gain control over your coronary plaque.
Dr. William Davis practices cardiology in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He is founder of the Track your Plaque program, a heart disease prevention program that shows how to use CT heart scans to control coronary plaque. He can be contacted through www.TrackYourPlaque.com. Dr. Davis’ blog, Dr. Prevention: Defeat Heart Disease, can be found at http://drprevention.blogspot.com/.
Copyright 2006, Track Your Plaque
