Blast triglycerides

15. May 2009 William Davis (0)
The conventional answers to high triglycerides levels are generally: low-fat diet, a fibrate drug (Tricor, Lopid), a statin drug, and--most recently--prescription fish oil.

This is the regimen to take if you want the drug industry to get even richer and more powerful than they already are. After all, what CEO of a pharmaceutical company can stand to have his salary and benefits slashed to below $200 million this year? It's outrageous!

If you really want to blast the heck out of your triglycerides and achieve numbers like 50 mg/dl, then the regimen to consider consists of:

--Elimination of sugars, wheat, and cornstarch
--Fish oil--Sam's Club would do fine at $8 for 350 capsules, or the high-potency at $14.99 for 180 capsules (at 680 mg EPA +DHA, nearly the same potency as prescription Lovaza at 842 mg)
--Vitamin D supplementation sufficient to achieve normal blood levels (60-70 ng/ml)

Those three strategies alone can reduce triglycerides far more than any drug combination. In fact, it is rare for someone with triglycerides as high as 900 mg/dl to not reduce them to the <100 mg/dl range.

Cheerios: Prescription required?

13. May 2009 William Davis (15)
Followers of The Heart Scan Blog know my feelings about Cheerios:


Can you say "sugar"?

Cheerios and heart health


There's an interesting tussle going on between the makers of Cheerios, General Mills, and the FDA.

The FDA says that the Cheerios' package claims of:

• "you can Lower Your Cholesterol 4% in 6 weeks"
• "Did you know that in just 6 weeks Cheerios can reduce bad cholesterol by an average of 4 percent? Cheerios is ... clinically proven to lower cholesterol. A clinical study showed that eating two 1 1/2 cup servings daily of Cheerios cereal reduced bad cholesterol when eaten as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol."

constitute a medical claim, i.e., trying to promote Cheerios as a drug.

I'm glad that the FDA has come down on General Mills. But I find this entire episode laughable: The debate is over the purported health benefits of what I would regard as pure junk food, no better in my view than claiming that a cupcake has health benefits, or a carton of ice cream.

In my experience, Cheerios does not 1) reduce risk for heart disease, nor 2) reduce cholesterol.

It does, however, cause blood sugar to skyrocket and increase the small type of LDL--you know, the type that causes heart disease.

"Placebos are frequently of value"

12. May 2009 William Davis (1)
The treatment of angina pectoris, generally speaking, is unsatisfactory.

Any procedure that relieves mental tension is valuable. Since patients suffer particularly during the winter, I encourage winter vacations in a southern climate.

I insist that obese patients lose weight, and have found small doses of benzedrine, 10 to 20 mg. daily, helpful in curbing the appetite.

I generally forbid smoking. This is a particularly disturbing task for many patients to carry out. In such cases, I suggest that 3 or 4 cigarettes be smoked daily, knowing full well that regardless of what I say or recommend, the patients is going to continue to smoke.

Innumerable drugs, most of which are of questionable value, have been used to prevent attacks of angina pectoris. In fact, placebos are frequently of value.

Testosterone--The male sex hormone has been effective in my experience. Whether it acts as a vasodilator or merely by promoting a sense of well-being is not known.

Alcohol--Alcohol (whiskey, brandy, rum) has been used for many years in the treatment of angina pectoris. I have prescribed it in moderate quantity--an ounce several times a day--and while I have not made alcoholics of any of my patients, I also have not cured any of them with it. Preparations, such as creme de menthe, are of value in relieving "gas" of which so many patients complain.


From Heart Disease Diagnosis and Treatment
Emanuel Goldberger, MD
1951

Iodine is not salt

12. May 2009 William Davis (3)
I've noticed a point of confusion recently, something I hadn't noticed in my patients before: Because of the public health advice from the FDA, American Heart Association, and Surgeon General's office to reduce sodium/salt intake, people have thought this meant reducing iodine, too.

I believe that people have drawn an equation in their minds:


Sodium = iodine


Of course, they are two entirely unrelated things.

Recall that the only reason iodine is added to many (not all) salt products is because it was a public health solution to solve the substantial nationwide iodine deficiency prevalent during the 20th century. But it was a solution conceived in 1924, when the FDA thought this was the best way to get iodine into Americans. And it worked.

Unfortunately, sodium does indeed present adverse effects in some people. As a result, "get your iodine from salt" has evolved into "reduce your sodium intake." Everyone forgot about the iodine: They forgot about the large disfiguring goiters, the poor school performance in iodine-deficient schoolchildren, the mentally-impaired offspring of iodine-deficient mothers.

So don't confuse sodium with iodine. You may need less of the former, but more of the latter.

For more on this, see "Help keep your family goiter free."

"You can't reduce coronary plaque"

10. May 2009 William Davis (9)
"I told my cardiologst that I stumbled on a program called 'Track Your Plaque' that claims to be able to help reduce your coronary calcium score.

"My cardiologist said, 'That's impossible. You cannot reduce coronary plaque. I've never seen anyone reduce a heart scan score."

Who's right here?

The commenter is right; the cardiologist is wrong.

I would predict that the cardiologist is among the conventionally-thinking, "statins drugs are the only solution" group who follows his patients over the years to determine when a procedure is finally "needed." In fact, I know many of these cardiologists personally. The primary care physicians are completely in the dark, usually expressing an attitude of helplessness and submitting to the "wisdom" of their cardiology consultants.

Quantify and work to reduce the atherosclerotic plaque? No way! That's work, requires thinking, some sophisticated testing (like lipoprotein testing), even some new ideas like vitamin D. "They didn't teach that to me in medical school (back in 1980)!"

Welcome to the new age.

Atherosclerotic plaque is 1) measurable, 2) trackable, and 3) can be reduced.

We do it all the time. (Amy still holds our record: 63% reduction in plaque/heart scan score.)

Though I pooh-pooh the value of statin drug studies, there's even data from the conventional statin world documenting coronary plaque reversal. The ASTEROID Trial of rosuvastatin (Crestor), 40 mg per day for one year, demonstrated 7% reduction of atherosclerotic plaque using intracoronary ultrasound.

I have NEVER seen a heart attack or appearance of heart symptoms (angina, unstable angina) in a person who has reversed coronary plaque (unless, of course, they pitched the whole effort and returned to bad habits--that has happened). Stick to the program and coronary risk, for all practical purposes, been eliminated.

A heart scan score is not a death sentence. It is simply a tool to empower your prevention program, a measuring stick to gauge plaque progression, stabilization, or regression. Don't accept anything less.

Lethal lipids

8. May 2009 William Davis (15)
There's a specific combination of lipids/lipoproteins that confers especially high risk for heart disease. That combination is:

Low HDL--generally less than 50 mg/dl

Small LDL--especially if 50% or more of total LDL

Lipoprotein(a)--an aggressive risk factor by itself


This combination is a virtual guarantee for heart disease, often at a young age. It's not clear whether each risk factor exerts its own brand of undesirable effect, or whether the combined presence of each cause some adverse interaction.

For instance, lipoprotein(a), or Lp(a), by itself is the most aggressive risk factor known (that nobody's heard about--there's no blockbuster revenue-generating drug for it). Each Lp(a) molecule is a combination of an LDL cholesterol molecule with a specific genetically-determined protein, apoprotein(a). If the LDL component of Lp(a) is small, then the combination of Lp(a) with small LDL is somehow much worse, kind of like the two neighborhood kids who are naughty on their own, but really bad when they're together.

Interestingly, the evil trio responds as a whole to many of the same corrective treatments:

Niacin--increases HDL, reduces small LDL, and reduces Lp(a)

Elimination of wheat, cornstarch, and sugars--Best for reducing small LDL; less potent for Lp(a) reduction.

High-fat intake--Like niacin, effective for all three.

High-dose fish oil--Higher doses of EPA + DHA north of 3000 mg per day also can positively affect all three, especially Lp(a).


If you have this combination, it ought to be taken very seriously. Don't let anybody tell you that it is uncorrectable--just because there may be no big revenue-generating drug to treat it on TV does not mean that there aren't effective treatments for it. In fact, some of our biggest successes in reducing heart scan scores have had this precise combination.

"Get regressive"

6. May 2009 William Davis (0)
This caught my eye:



Niaspan, prescription niacin, now sold by Abbott Laboratories, is now promoting its advantages in regressing coronary plaque:



In patients with a history of coronary artery disease (CAD) and hypercholesetgerolemia, Niaspan (niacin), in combination with a bile acid-binding resin, is indicated to slow progression or promote regression of atherosclerotic disease.



And the new slogan: "Get regressive."



Interestingly, the new marketing campaign is based on relatively old data. They base this new claim on 3 studies:



1) Cholesterol-Lowering Atherosclerosis Study (CLAS)--a 1987

CRP House of Cards

4. May 2009 William Davis (15)
Lew has coronary plaque with a heart scan score of 393. At age 53, that's in the 90th percentile (higher score than 90% of men in his age group).

On our search for causes of his coronary plaque, we identify low HDL of 41 mg/dl, high triglycerides of 202 mg/dl, small LDL (83% of total), calculated LDL of 133 mg/dl, and severe vitamin D deficiency with a starting blood level of 25-hydroxy vitamin D of 19 ng/ml.

His c-reactive protein: 4.1 mg/dl--above the cut-off of 2.0 mg/dl that the pharmaceutical industry is targeting as a mandate for statin therapy, particularly given the JUPITER data.

Lew instead eliminates wheat and other small LDL-provoking foods and, as a result, loses 28 lbs in 3 months; adds omega-3 fatty acids from fish oil; supplements vitamin D sufficient to increase his blood level to 70 ng/ml.

Along with dramatic correction of his starting abnormalities, his c-reactive protein: 0.4 mg/dl--no statin drug.

In my view, increased CRP is nothing more than a surrogate for the inflammatory phenomena that arise from high-carbohydrate diets, overweight, and small LDL. Correct those and CRP drops off a cliff. In fact, it is exceptionally rare for CRP to not drop to very low levels following this formula.

I believe that CRP is one more item on the list of reasons--the house of cards--the pharmaceutical industry is building to persuade us to take more and more statin drugs. LDL not low enough? Take more statin. Diabetic with low cholesterol? Take a statin. Inflammation? Take a statin.

Enough already.

At-home blood tests

2. May 2009 William Davis (6)
Our at-home blood tests are proving a hit.

So far, vitamin D is the number one most popular test, no surprise.

Second--to my surprise--is DHEA. I would have predicted it would have been thyroid testing.

Our male and female hormone panels are also proving popular.

I've personally been using the thyroid and vitamin D testing to monitor my levels. I increased my Armour thyroid based on a low free T3 value, while my vitamin D was perfect at 77 ng/ml on 8000 units vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) per day.

The process of performing the blood spots is straightforward. The finger pricks are virtually painless using the automatic spring-loaded finger stick devices:





The number of blots to make depends on how many tests you'd like. Just a vitamin D test requires 2 blots. If 6 or more tests are ordered at a time, then all 12 blots should be made. (Two spring-loaded lancets are provided in each kit.)





If you are interested in any of our at-home blood tests, go here.

Our own Heart Hawk has posted an editorial on about blood spot testing on Health Central:

Simple, affordable home blood testing is a real game-changer in the arena of informed, self-directed healthcare. For the first time broad access to home blood testing, on a scale similar to that enjoyed by persons who routinely test their blood sugar, is available to virtually everyone and it removes doctors as the gatekeepers of these tests. Even private insurance companies and Medicare are beginning to understand the potential for improving healthcare and decreasing costs and are slowly beginning to expand coverage of home blood testing much as they do for diabetics or persons taking anti-coagulants.

"Help keep your family goiter free"

1. May 2009 William Davis (10)
People ask, "If I need iodine, should I go back to iodized salt?"

First of all, how did this notion of iodized salt originate?

In 1924, J. Edgar Hoover was appointed head of the FBI, Marlon Brando and Doris Day were born, and Calvin Coolidge was elected President of the United States. Half of American households had a car, while 1 in 4 Americans were illiterate.



In the 1920s, cities were a fraction of their current size and a third of the U.S. population, or 36 million people, lived in small rural communities.

Goiters were also wildly prevalent in 1924. Up to a third of the population in some areas of the country, particularly the Midwest, suffered from goiters, thyroid glands that enlarged due to lack of iodine.

Goiters were not only unsightly, but sometimes grotesque, causing a visible bulge in the front of the neck. Occasionally, they would grow so big that it compressed adjacent structures, like the trachea, and would have to be surgically removed. Goiters were commonly associated with thyroid dysfunction, especially low thyoid or hypothyroidism, that resulted in low IQ's in schoolchildren, debilitation in adults. Women of childbearing age delivered retarded children.

So iodine deficiency in early 20th century America was a big problem. How to solve this enormous public health problem in a large nation without television, few radios, no internet, with a largely rural and often illiterate population?

Thus was iodized salt born, a simple, technologically available solution that could be implemented on a large scale nationwide at low cost. The FDA chose this route in 1924, figuring that it was the best way to ensure that most Americans could obtain sufficient iodine through liberal use of iodized salt. Public health officials urged Americans to use salt. Morton's salt label proudly bore the slogan "Help keep your family goiter free!"

It worked. Goiters largely became a thing of the past.

How about today? The American Heart Association recommends limiting salt, recently announcing that they would like to limit intake to 1500 mg per day. The American Medical Association has been lobbying the FDA to set lower salt limit guidelines. The FDA has been clamping down on food manufacturers to reduce the quantity of salt in processed foods.

Why limit salt? The concern is that there are segments of the population (not all) that are salt sensitive, particularly African Americans, people with certain genetic forms of high blood pressure, conditions that cause water retention, and any degree of heart or kidney failure. Salt in these peoplem, in fact, can be disastrous.
So adding iodine to salt was the solution to epidemic goiter. And it worked.

But salt is not a perfect solution, just one that served its purpose back in 1924. What we need is a 21st century solution.
You will find that in the various iodine supplements at your health food store. My favorite is kelp--inexpensive, available, and a form that mimics the way Japanese people obtain iodine (though by eating seaweed, rather than with tablets).


Image of kelp courtesy Wikipedia
What would life be like . . . ?

What would life be like . . . ?

29. July 2009 William Davis (16)
What if coronary heart disease could be prevented--no eliminated--applying methods that were accessible, easy, and cheap?

What if coronary heart disease and, thereby, angina, heart attack, sudden cardiac death, ventricular tachycardia, heart failure, and the cerebrovascular equivalent, stroke, could be eliminated using readily available tools available to virtually everyone in the U.S.? And, over a year, it cost less than a once-a-week latte at Starbucks?

How would the healthcare landscape change? What would become of hospitals, manufacturers of the billions of dollars of hospital equipment necessary to supply the cardiovascular hospital industry (e.g., stent manufacturers, catheter manufacturers, defibrillator and pacemaker manufacturers, pharmaceutical manufacturers who no longer have to produce the volume of antiplatelet agents, inotropic drugs, antiarrhythmic agents, etc.)?

How would our lives change? What would the end of life look like if people stopped dying of heart attack, sudden cardiac death, congestive heart failure at age 55, 65, or 75, but lived out their lives to die of something unrelated?

What if the solution had little or nothing to do with drugs but evolved from simple nutritional strategies, supplements meant to correct the deficiencies that accompany modern lifestyles, and a few unique strategies targeted towards the genetic predispositions that lead to heart disease?

What if all this were possible at a cost of a few hundred dollars per year?

It would certainly be a cataclysmic change. Hospitals would shrink to a small remnant of their current gargantuan, dozens-per-city presence. The need for hospital staff would be slashed by over half. The rare cardiologist would tend to congenital heart disease sufferers and other unusual forms of heart disease and he or she might have a colleague or two in all of a major city.

Healthcare costs would plummet, no longer having to sustain the enormous cardiovascular healthcare machine of hospitals, staff, industry, and long-term care. Health insurance, private or public, would drop by 50%.

It would free up nearly a trillion dollars that could be redirected towards other pursuits, like schools and research. Extraordinary leaps forward in quality of life and science would emerge, given that magnitude of funding.

It's not as grand a thought experiment as Alan Weisman's The World Without Us, in which he imagines what the world would be like without humans altogether.

How long would it take to recover lost ground and restore Eden to the way it must have gleamed and smelled the day before Adam, or Homo habilis, appeared? Could nature ever obliterate all our traces? How would it undo our monumental cities and public works, and reduce our myriad plastics and toxic synthetics back to benign, basic elements?

But I believe this thought experiment--what would life be like without heart disease because it was eliminated using inexpensive tools-- is more plausible, more likely to occur. In fact, it has already begun to occur.

See those vines growing up the side of the hospital?
Tags :

Comments (16) -

  • Jenny

    7/29/2009 12:39:12 PM |

    What would life be like without CVD deaths?

    For a while, the way you describe. But as more people lived into their 80s and 90s the rate of dementia would rise dramatically.

    If you visit any dementia facility you will find it is full of normal weight people many of whom are in otherwise "excellent" health--that's what got them to live to 88 or 92.

    But once demented, their lives are tragic. Saddest are those who are just demented enough to be totally confused, but not enough that they are oblivious to their condition. All people with moderate dementia  need round the clock care which is not covered by Medicare unless they have no assets. This depletes the savings of humble people who have worked for decades who are left with nothing to leave their children.  Depending on the cause of their dementia people may need full time care for a decade. Once they have no money they are turned over to the warehousing of nursing homes, many of which are horrendous  where those who are still conscious may pray daily for death.

    Right now one half of those in the 80-100 age group are demented. The humiliation  dementia inflicts on loved ones is so terrible that anyone who has a relative in this condition (and we have two in our family) will pray that they have enough heart disease to take them out before they go through that long, slow degrading decline.

    Many people have unrealistic ideas that they could take care of a loved one with dementia which stem from not having been put face to face with it since the truly demented are usually locked away somewhere.

    Note too that though there are attempts to blame dementia on diabetes, I don't buy it. The rate of dementia has climbed with the climb in lifespan though "senile dementia" has always been the fat of a good portion of those who lived to be old-old.

    The diabetes diagnosed late in life is part of the gradual failing of their organs and often not the same as diabetes diagnosed in the 40s. It may be associated with dementia but it is far from proven that it is causative.

    Beside that, eliminate CVD and the rate of people dying from the prolonged agony of cancer would go up too, because the older people get the more likely they are to develop cancers. Something many people don't know is that chemotherapy administered to older people id prone to cause dementia. It causes mild cognitive problems  in younger people too, but in the old-old it is much more likely to take out their memories.

    I'm all for eliminating the kind of CVD that takes people out young, especially since it is so often linked to genetic abnormalities.  But for those in their 70s and beyond, eliminating CVD might simply be to trade one condition for another far worse.

    No one lives forever.

  • Lucy

    7/29/2009 1:21:40 PM |

    It sure doesn't seem like that will happen anytime soon, at least not here... I spent all day calling around to local docs (including cardiologists) and NO ONE had even heard of advanced lipid testing...  I'm ashamed to say that I work for a large hospital system that wants to be "cutting edge" and all about research yet they have no knowledge of basic preventative care in regards to the leading cause of death in our country?!!

    Is advanced lipid testing really that advanced?

  • JPB

    7/29/2009 3:25:12 PM |

    That is part of my dream, too. But first, people have to have access to correct information, stop being so passive with medical professionals  and then take an active role in establishing and maintaining their own heath.  The real "health" care reform would do everything that you say but would come directly from the people who are receiving so-called medical "care."

    Of course, the vested interests will fight this tooth and nail but it would be tough to stop if our population would finally wake up to the way they are being manipulated!

  • Dr. William Davis

    7/29/2009 4:26:06 PM |

    Hi, Jenny--

    Thanks for your thoughts.

    But I would rather succumb to dementia at age 90 (that I helped delay with vitamin D and other mental-preservation methods) than heart attack at age 59, bypass at age 60, three stents at 63, four more at age 68, living a life of hospital revolving doors. Don't forget about the defibrillator that aborts the ventricular tachycardia that comes from the scar in your left myocardium from the original heart attack.

    Millions of people live this way and have not been told that it doesn't have to be this way. That's what I'm talking about.

  • Dr. William Davis

    7/29/2009 4:28:29 PM |

    Lucy--

    NOT having advanced lipid testing impairs the identification of the causes of heart disease. It is a big step towards better control over heart disease risk. It identifies treatments that often have nothing to do with more need for medication--that's why your doctors don't know about it.

    You probably already know that the bulk of medical "education" does not come from journals or scientific publications, but from the pretty drug representative with dinner invitation in hand waiting in the doctor's waiting room.

  • Anne

    7/29/2009 4:36:15 PM |

    Dear Dr Davis,

    Your mention of congenital heart disease sufferers made me wonder if you could possibly write a blog about how people with congenital heart disease can improve their heart health please.

    Anne

  • Helena

    7/29/2009 5:51:55 PM |

    Dr. Davis

    I am with you! And to be honest – it is actually horrible WRONG that we are not yet there. We (or at least many people) already know how to escape the dreadful C V and D. Why it is not already implemented in every hospital, doctors’ office, and even in education is scary! But most of it has got to do with a short-term money flow, I would guess.

    As boldly as I think we can put most cardiologists out of business I also believe we can eliminate many cancer diseases by natural remedies!

    No one has to believe me, but sometimes we are to do ourselves a favor and listen to those who have the degrees to say and act upon statements. What about these well selected and bold statements:

    John P. Cook M.D. Ph.D. in his book “The Cardiovascular Cure – How to strengthen your self defense against heart attack and stroke” In his book you can read this: “There is magic within all of us. It comes in the shape of a molecule known as nitric oxide.  A substance so powerful that it can actually protect you from heart attack and stroke.  Best of all your body can make it on its own.  Nitric oxide is your body’s best defense against heart disease.  The body is capable of healing itself.  What you do with the magic is up to you.”

    Dr. Louis J. Ignarro; Nobel Prize Laureate in Medicine, 1998; “NO more heart disease – How Nitric Oxide can prevent, even reverse, heart disease and stroke” and you can read this in the book: "You do not have to wait for the rest of the world to see the light--and the drug companies to put new Nitric Oxide-based prescription drugs on the market--in order to take advantage of what Nitric Oxide has to offer.  Even if you have high blood pressure, have suffered a heart attack, or are at high risk...You can beat the odds.  The power to lead an entirely new and healthier life is in your hands.  Carpe Diem--Seize the day!  Start boosting your Nitric Oxide production right now!“

    Dr. Jonathan S. Stamler; Professor of Medicine; Duke University Medical Center - "It [Nitric Oxide] does everything, everywhere. You cannot name a major cellular response or physiological effect in which [Nitric Oxide] is not implicated today. It's involved in complex behavioral changes in the brain, airway relaxation, beating of the heart, dilation of blood vessels, regulation of intestinal movement, function of blood cells, the immune system, even how fingers and arms move.“
            
    What these gentlemen are talking about is Arginine (arginine transforms into Nitric Oxide once in your body). And Arginine has also been found to: “Improve Memory & Cognitive Functions” (J Physiol Pharmacol 1999), and “May inhibit the division and proliferation of cancer cells” (Br J Surg. 1997)

    The list goes on and on… Arginine 5gr or more a day along with Citruline and antioxidants on a daily regularly basis can do all these things and we can at the same time fight cancer and dementia! It is all out there in the nature for us to use!!!

    Thanks again for a wonderful blog – if anyone is interested in learning about different product options they can email me (don’t want to advertise anything here – this is about people, not money) Helena.mathis@hotmail.com.

  • Helena

    7/29/2009 5:52:31 PM |

    Dr. Davis

    I am with you! And to be honest – it is actually horrible WRONG that we are not yet there. We (or at least many people) already know how to escape the dreadful C V and D. Why it is not already implemented in every hospital, doctors’ office, and even in education is scary! But most of it has got to do with a short-term money flow, I would guess.

    As boldly as I think we can put most cardiologists out of business I also believe we can eliminate many cancer diseases by natural remedies!

    No one has to believe me, but sometimes we are to do ourselves a favor and listen to those who have the degrees to say and act upon statements. What about these well selected and bold statements:

    John P. Cook M.D. Ph.D. in his book “The Cardiovascular Cure – How to strengthen your self defense against heart attack and stroke” In his book you can read this: “There is magic within all of us. It comes in the shape of a molecule known as nitric oxide.  A substance so powerful that it can actually protect you from heart attack and stroke.  Best of all your body can make it on its own.  Nitric oxide is your body’s best defense against heart disease.  The body is capable of healing itself.  What you do with the magic is up to you.”

    Dr. Louis J. Ignarro; Nobel Prize Laureate in Medicine, 1998; “NO more heart disease – How Nitric Oxide can prevent, even reverse, heart disease and stroke” and you can read this in the book: "You do not have to wait for the rest of the world to see the light--and the drug companies to put new Nitric Oxide-based prescription drugs on the market--in order to take advantage of what Nitric Oxide has to offer.  Even if you have high blood pressure, have suffered a heart attack, or are at high risk...You can beat the odds.  The power to lead an entirely new and healthier life is in your hands.  Carpe Diem--Seize the day!  Start boosting your Nitric Oxide production right now!“

    Dr. Jonathan S. Stamler; Professor of Medicine; Duke University Medical Center - "It [Nitric Oxide] does everything, everywhere. You cannot name a major cellular response or physiological effect in which [Nitric Oxide] is not implicated today. It's involved in complex behavioral changes in the brain, airway relaxation, beating of the heart, dilation of blood vessels, regulation of intestinal movement, function of blood cells, the immune system, even how fingers and arms move.“
            
    What these gentlemen are talking about is Arginine (arginine transforms into Nitric Oxide once in your body). And Arginine has also been found to: “Improve Memory & Cognitive Functions” (J Physiol Pharmacol 1999), and “May inhibit the division and proliferation of cancer cells” (Br J Surg. 1997)

    The list goes on and on… Arginine 5gr or more a day along with Citruline and antioxidants on a daily regularly basis can do all these things and we can at the same time fight cancer and dementia! It is all out there in the nature for us to use!!!

    Thanks again for a wonderful blog – if anyone is interested in learning about different product options they can email me (don’t want to advertise anything here – this is about people, not money) Helena.mathis@hotmail.com.

  • Tom

    7/29/2009 5:57:35 PM |

    Alzheimer's and heart disease are thought to be connected -- they may both be the result of arterosclerosis.

    So a world with fewer CHD victims might not be a world with more dementia patients.

  • trinkwasser

    7/29/2009 6:41:32 PM |

    Yes I see both your points. I strongly suspect I am going to die significantly younger than others in my family thanks to the clueless doctors who decided not to diagnose my diabetes, and worse, put me on a high carb low fat diet to "cure" my appalling lipids.

    On the one hand going quick of a heart attack while in my prime would be far preferable to what happened to one of my mother's friends: after a quad bypass she gradually declined from being a fit active sociable person to someone who was blind, deaf and incapable but whose heart would NOT stop and give her the release she prayed for. Once you get into that state they can warehouse you for years.

  • Roger

    7/30/2009 3:10:19 AM |

    My mom was one who met Jenny's tragic fate.  She did Pritikin and McDougall for years, decades actually.  Though she was a lawyer, played piano and read constantly, Alzheimer's (or a similar dementia) overtook her in her 70s.  She spent several years with caregivers in her home, and then six long years in a deluxe nursing home, burning up all the assets she had saved her entire life.  All we could do was watch.

    I believe the low-fat diet she followed wasn't what her brain needed.  She was probably chronically starved for EFAs, especially Omega-3.  But we didn't know what we know now, so we couldn't help.  Of course, I can't know for sure this was the causative factor...maybe this is just my defense mechanism.  But I think Dr. Davis's point is that addressing CVD in no way excludes also addressing dementia.  There's tons of exciting research being done.  Plenty of folks make it to the very end with all their faculties intact.  Why?

  • Tara

    7/30/2009 3:15:35 PM |

    Dr. Davis,

    What is your opinion on genetic testing and it's potential effect on the treatment of both CVD and (since it's been mentioned in this discussion) dementia?   I know both my ApoE and KIF6, and find it all very fascinating.  I am a 4/3 and a noncarrier for the risky form of KIF6.  I do think there are some potential ethical concerns with genetic testing, but I do see benefits as well.  For instance, supposedly my KIF6 result means that I would likely not benefit from a statin.  So, it's extra leverage in my mind when discussing treatment options with my cardiologist.

  • trinkwasser

    7/30/2009 3:29:34 PM |

    "I believe the low-fat diet she followed wasn't what her brain needed. She was probably chronically starved for EFAs, especially Omega-3"

    My God, that's an excellent point! Nursing home/hospital food is almost always high carb low fat (and cheap)

  • Miki Ben Dor

    7/30/2009 9:41:55 PM |

    Dr. Davis
    From what I have learned here and in other like minded blogs (Eads, Stephan, Hyperlipid, BG and others)it seem that the whole metabolic syndrome can be prevented + autoimmune diseases and probably many cancers. This has the potential of really emptying out the hospitals and leaving maily the preventative medicine heroes like yourself and Eads in the front where you belong
    I have recently started a blog in Israel, translating to Hebrew some of your (and  the other's) posts. The spreading of ideas resemble sometimes the spread of epidemics. It picks up suddenly so lets be optimistic!
    keep up the good work!
    Miki Ben Dor http//

  • DIB

    8/6/2009 4:31:53 AM |

    Dr. Davis,

    Life without CVD is not something that can be dreamed about, but rather something that existed in the recent past.  I have heard stories from MD's who served in the US military during the Korean and Vietnamese wars, and while over there, and in Japan, during those years, were asked by local doctors to call them when the military MD was treating a patient (usually American) for a heart attack or having a heart problem, because they had never or very infrequently seen those kinds of problems in their practices, and wanted to see what it was all about.  So, some parts of the world escaped CVD problems already!

    DIB

  • Dr. William Davis

    8/6/2009 12:18:28 PM |

    Hi, DIB--

    Excellent point!

    I agree: Many lessons are being RE-learned.

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