Cardiovascular disease includes any disease involving the heart and the blood vessels supplying the entire body. This process can affect all the blood vessels in the body, particularly the coronary arteries (the arteries supplying blood to the heart), the carotid and vertebral arteries (the arteries to the brain), and arteries supplying blood to the lower limbs. The most common type of cardiovascular disease is what is known as atherosclerotic vascular disease.
What happens in atherosclerosis (AC)? It is the progressive build-up of fat and other substances in the wall of the arteries from a very early age.
Who is affected by this condition? Almost everyone living in the modern world has a degree of atherosclerosis. In many ways, it is a disease of the wealthy.
If I removed your arteries and examined them under a microscope, I would find at least some fat in the walls of your arteries. This doesn't mean you will definitely experience some form of cardiovascular disease, but it does mean that everyone with any fat in their arteries is at some risk of a heart attack, stroke, or sudden cardiac death.
I am also not suggesting that you have blockages in your arteries. This process occurs in the walls of the arteries over decades, before it actually causes a blockage. If you imagine a doughnut with the hole in the middle, this is where the blood flows through an artery, but all the action is happening in the wall of the artery.
There is no doubt that the more fat you have in your arteries, the greater your risk. But even small fatty plaques may rupture with large clots forming over these plaques, leading to some type of acute vascular event, such as a heart attack.
So why do you get fat in your arteries in the first place?
Basically, because you are living against your body’s original design. If you lived with lifelong cholesterol of less than 3 mmols per L and a blood pressure around 100/60 or less, then this atherosclerotic process wouldn't occur. Try finding anyone in the modern world with these lifelong parameters. They may exist, but I've never seen one as a patient.
You were designed to be a hunter-gatherer.
A significant factor in hunter-gatherer eating patterns was food availability, and freshness, since organic food decays very rapidly once caught or collected. It had to be consumed immediately. Therefore, if the hunter-gatherers killed a wild animal, there was no storing the meat in a prehistoric refrigerator; they either ate it or wasted it. On the other hand, if there was no food to be found, the hunter-gatherers didn't eat at all.
This pattern of ‘feast and famine’ was the experience of ancient humans throughout their lives. If they were wandering through an area with little edible food and limited amounts to drink, they needed mechanisms to conserve their nutrients and retain salt and fluid to maintain healthy blood pressure. Conserving nutrients would ensure a steady supply of glucose to their brains, which in turn prevented their minds from becoming clouded, and feelings of disorientation and eventually unconsciousness.
Therefore, the hunter-gatherers developed protective fat-storage mechanisms to guard against the perils of an inconsistent supply of food and water. They feasted on anything that was available through either hunting or gathering. The storage mechanisms would eagerly mop up any over-eating and save it to help them cope with times of famine when food wasn't so readily available. In this way, human beings' metabolism became geared to survive through both feast and famine.
Although ancient man's life was very inconvenient, his body certainly supported his lifestyle. Modern man's body has basically the same metabolic processes as our hunter-gatherer ancestors, but our lifestyle has changed dramatically. For example, the only hunting or gathering we do today is to drive the car to the local supermarket, pick up a large supply of processed, packaged rubbish (disguised as food), place it in the car and drive home, where we preserve it in the pantry or the fridge. Although this is quick and easy, it does not match our physiology and is a major contributor to our modern illnesses.
Inconvenient Truth
When we consider the necessities for human survival, what are we actually doing every day? Instead of seeking and satisfying these needs through normal, nature-based mechanisms, we have invented all kinds of artificial, synthetic substitutes. We tend to opt for the most convenient route. With careful planning, we can almost eradicate the need to expend any physical and mental energy at all; we can order on our phone and have it delivered to our door. In most cases, this makes survival much easier, but I firmly believe that the convenience abundant availability of our basic needs is killing us.
Life in the modern world appears to be squarely focused on the accumulation of wealth and material goods. We are also developing an extraordinary knowledge base that is allowing scientists, engineers, and others to design all manner of items that are intended purely to make our lives more comfortable.
Although modern life has many advantages and although our bodies have been designed in an extraordinary manner, with significant reserves and safety mechanisms to ensure prolonged survival, we are pushing these mechanisms to the limit with our modern 'convenient' lifestyle. Our growing epidemics of obesity, diabetes, and cancer, along with the ongoing carnage from cardiovascular disease, are testaments to this. As I have said, it is my firm belief that 'convenience is killing us', and we cannot rely upon the medical profession to solve these problems once they have occurred.
If you do not want convenience to be your killer, start thinking about how you can go back to a more natural style of living within our modern world.
Thus, our hunter-gatherer physiology is based around feast/famine and constant movement in a totally natural environment, where borderline malnourishment was the norm rather than the exception- certainly not what we are witnessing today in the modern world.
What can be done?
Now that you have some understanding of the what/who/when/where/how and why of atherosclerotic vascular disease, the two big questions are what should be done about it and can you reverse things?
Both these questions can be answered very simply. What you should do? You should prevent it in the first place or, if you already have it, reverse the damage. Basically, the way to approach the entire issue of heart disease is to follow my five-point reversal program (listed later in this article).
Many people, including those in the medical profession, are under the misconception that heart disease is a slow and progressive condition that may be slowed down with intensive medical treatment but certainly cannot be reversed.
With our current lifestyle approach, this is certainly true, and to quote Albert Einstein, "there is no more certain sign of insanity than to do the same thing over and over again and expect a different result."
What prompted me to write this article on "How to reverse heart disease" was the case of a patient I saw just the other week. He demonstrated to me clearly the vital importance of compliance and the clear potential for reversal of disease. I first met Sanjay when he was 60 years old. I performed a coronary calcium score which was 150, placing him at moderate risk for heart disease.
The Calcium Score ranking is as follows:
- Zero: Lowest cardiac risk. (Predicted 10-year risk is only 1%)
- 1-10: Trivial calcification
- 10 - 100: Mild calcification
- 100 - 400: Moderate calcification
- 400: Severe calcification
Interestingly, part of the results from this test includes plaque volume, which is a better indication of the volume of fat than the calcium score alone. Sanjay's plaque volume was 143. This indicates less stability in his plaques than if his volume was much lower than the calcium score.
Numerous studies have demonstrated clearly that statin drugs are only indicated in people with established heart disease, such as a prior history of a heart attack, stent, coronary bypass, or evidence of significant atherosclerosis in other vascular beds such as the carotid arteries. The other indication is for people with a coronary artery calcium score greater than 100.
If you are over the age of 50 and your coronary calcium score is below 100, there is no indication for statin drugs, regardless of cholesterol levels. These guidelines are certainly not followed by most doctors who are too quick to prescribe statins purely because of elevated cholesterol levels.
Because of Sanjay's high coronary calcium score, I prescribed a statin drug which caused significant muscle pain, and despite numerous attempts with a variety of different statins, Sanjay could not tolerate any type of these medications.
Another approach
He did, however, follow the five vital lifestyle keys listed below and took targeted supplementation. This included the Calabrian Bergamot derivative (BPF 99). There are several bergamot products available, but many are from bergamot sources, other than Calabria, with no research to prove any benefit. I work with Calabrian researchers & have published many papers supporting the benefits of Calabrian bergamot. I also commenced Sanjay on kyolic aged garlic extract, vitamin K2, and Ubiquinol.
When he returned for a follow-up coronary calcium score a few weeks ago (5 years after his first score), I was astounded to see the score had dropped from 150 to 126 but, even more remarkable, the plaque volume had reduced from 143 down to 44 suggesting significant regression in plaque size. This was all without any pharmaceutical medications.
I am not suggesting statin drugs should not be used, but I believe that the medical profession gives statins far too much power, and the public gives statins far too much pain. There is certainly a place for these drugs in people with established coronary artery disease, but in my view, statins are certainly being overprescribed.
About the author: Dr. Ross Walker is a renowned Australian Cardiology specialist with 7 bestselling books on preventative cardiology, member of the Medical Advisory Board of the Miskawaan Health Group (MHG) in Thailand. More information Miskawaan.com or email contact@miskawaanhealth.com or call 02 086 8888.
Series Editor: Christopher F. Bruton, Executive Director, Dataconsult Ltd, chris@dataconsult.co.th. Dataconsult’s Thailand Regional Forum provides seminars and extensive documentation to update business on future trends in Thailand and in the Mekong Region.
