Track Your Plaque is the revolutionary approach that shows you how heart scans and the latest medical and natural treatments can be combined to create the most powerful heart attack prevention program available!

In this issue:

• Another Track Your Plaque success story!
• 5 Steps to Take to Reduce Your Heart Scan Score
• Coming Soon to the Track Your Plaque Member Website
  
   

Gene is a jovial, fun-loving railroad worker who didn't take anything too seriously. After all, his father died at age 36 of a heart attack. His brother died at 60 of a heart attack. So Gene took life as it came and long ago decided not to fret about his fate.

But Gene's wife wasn’t so easily accepting and she prodded him to get a heart scan. His score: 767. At age 56, his score placed Gene solidly in the 99th percentile (in the worst 1%) and virtually guaranteeing that he would follow in the footsteps of his brother and father. But it came as no surprise to him.

Gene had been prescribed Lipitor by his doctor for a somewhat high LDL cholesterol. Our in-depth assessment uncovered several additional patterns, including lipoprotein (a), small LDL, a pre-diabetic tendency, and a severe deficiency of vitamin D.

At 224 lb and 5 ft 6 inches in height, Gene was also at least 40 lbs overweight.

One year later, Gene had succeeded in correcting nearly all of his patterns. Gene’s weight loss efforts, however, fell short, having lost only 8 lbs. We encouraged him to try harder, in view of his partially corrected HDL at 49 mg/dl (and small LDL).

Perhaps looking for the easy way out, Gene wanted the feedback of another heart scan. His score: 590—a reduction of 23%!

Gene was thrilled, as were we. But, frankly, we were also surprised. Dramatic regression of coronary plaque tends to not occur so readily as long as some patterns, like low HDL persist, and weight is not controlled.

The lesson: Often the only way to tell if you've achieved control or regression of coronary plaque is to have another heart scan. There is indeed tremendous variation in human responses. When in doubt, measure again—get a heart scan.

The fact that Gene reduced his score dramatically means that he is highly unlikely to suffer the fate of his family, provided he sticks to the program. Rather than a heart attack at age 60, or a bypass operation, he will just continue on his program—at home with his family, safe, and without the trauma of major medical procedures.

5 Steps to Take to Reduce Your Heart Scan Score

It’s no news to readers of this newsletter: CT heart scans are booming in popularity. With over 300 scanners nationwide, over one million Americans have now been scanned since the introduction of this technology around 10 years ago.

In some cases, lives have been saved. People with high scores (e.g., over 1000) can end up with lifesaving procedures like bypass surgery or stents.

But what about the majority of people who don’t have a score that poses near-term danger?

All too often, people get a heart scan and are then 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% per year. Take your cholesterol drug and cut your fat, and you can still expect your score to grow 30% per year!

Surely there’s a lot more you could do to gain control over your score.

Here’s our list of 5 easy yet crucial steps that can tip the odds in your favor. These strategies can help keep your score from increasing, and perhaps even help 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 mis-guided advice of the ‘80s, and ‘90s that polyunsaturated oils were good for us has led us to become appallingly overloaded with omega-6 fatty acids. Omega-3 supplementation from fish oil has therefore become increasingly important.

The 11,000-participant GISSI-Prevenzione trial brought any remaining doubters to their knees. Participants taking fish oil experienced 30% reduction in cardiovascular death and an astounding 45% reduction in sudden death.

Fish oil provides anti-inflammatory benefits, stabilizes plaque, and corrects many genetic and acquired causes for heart attack.

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. We use a minimum of 4000 mg per day to provide 1200 mg of omega-3 fatty acids (EPA +DHA).

2. Take vitamin D

Imagine 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.

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 1000 units per day. Even better, have your doctor check a blood level (25-OH-vitamin D3) and the dose can be adjusted accordingly. In the Track Your Plaque program, most women require 2000 units per day, most men 3000 units per day to achieve the desirable blood level of 50 ng/ml in a northern climate during sun-deprid months, about half this dose in summer (if you get at least 10 minutes of sun every day).

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 other undesirable phenomena are. An HDL ≥60 is desirable. 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, crackers, pretzels, and breakfast cereals; exercise; 4–8 oz of red wine per day; and fish oil. The reduction in processed carbohydrates is especially important. 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 and 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. Try to include 5 servings of colorful foods every day.

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, reduce risk of diabetes, and boost your energy level.

Don’t sweat the fats—the monounsaturated fat in raw nuts are the source of much of the benefit. One-quarter to one-half cup per day provides maximum benefit.

Will adhering to all five strategies guarantee that you drop your heart scan score? No, unfortunately. But they are important ingredients in your overall effort. These five simple strategies can be responsible for 50% or more of your plaque-control program in many or most cases. Incorporate these simple, healthy practices into your overall health program and you can reduce your need for prescription medication. You’ll also obtain a broad panel of benefits beyond heart health. .

Coming Soon to the Track Your Plaque Member Website

Post-prandial lipid disorders
Some digested food products linger in your blood for hours and hours after you eat and escalate your risk for heart disease. Though research in this exciting area is still in its infancy, it has yielded crucial information for your plaque–control program.

Find out how to identify and manage this important pattern.

Using fiber for weight management
Whole wheat won't do it. Neither will bran cereal. In fact, they increase abdominal fat and are a large part of the reason Americans have become exceptionally overweight.

But pick the right fibers and it can help you lose weight. Among the recent additions to the list of healthy fibers is inulin. Learn how to use this and other fibers to lose weight and also contribute to correction of your lipid and lipoprotein patterns.

Copyright 2006, Track Your Plaque