Superior Index Go to the next: Chapter 3
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Atherosclerosis will be the cause of your death, more likely than not, unless you take action to find and treat its causes. No matter who you are, how successful or wealthy you are, no matter what your age or sex or where you live, your chances of dying prematurely of cardiovascular disease are about three in four.
Atherosclerosis (from athero = artery and sclero = hardening) is the buildup of plaque in the walls of our arteries. Plaque may eventually block the flow of blood, causing a heart attack or a stroke. Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, by far the leading cause of death for both men and women in the United States, begins in childhood and develops silently for decades.
At this moment, more than 70 million Americans suffer from some form of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. Most of the rest are in the process of developing it.
Twice every minute, an American suffers a heart attack. Half of these heart attacks - about one every minute - is fatal. Two-thirds of these victims had no warning, no early symptoms to tell them they might be at risk; the first and only symptom was sudden death. That's why it's known as "the silent killer".
The current standard medical approach for "preventing" atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) is to correct your cholesterol if it's elevated (usually with statin drugs) and lower your blood pressure if it's up (more drugs). If you're lucky, your physician might take an extra 30 seconds and toss in some gratuitous recommendations about exercise and a low-fat diet. The next step is usually to kick back and wait for a cardiovascular "event". No problem: more often than not there'll be one. Nothing like a medical emergency to mobilize action. Now the doctors whip out their prescription pads and sharpen their scalpels in a belated attempt to "close that barn door".
First a prescription for some overpriced cardiovascular drugs. There's a vast array - all big moneymakers for the pharmaceutical industry (which has spent mightily on ads that encourage doctors to write those prescriptions). If the drugs don't work, or if the atherosclerotic arterial blockage has progressed too far, there's always angioplasty, a surgical procedure in which a small balloon is inserted into the narrowed part of the blocked vessel and then inflated to stretch it open. At this time, a "stent" may also be implanted. A stent is an expandable wire mesh tube that is placed inside the artery to keep it open. The arterial blockage often progresses, and bypass surgery may be required. Here, a leg vein is transplanted to the heart to get blood past the blockage. By now you may be wondering how things got this far out of control. The long-term survival statistics on stents, angioplasties and coronary bypasses are disappointing because none of these fancy medical maneuvers addresses the actual causes of the problem. So it keeps coming back.
It seems to me that there's something deeply flawed about a health care delivery system that twiddles its thumbs, waiting patiently while Rome burns, then screams, "Fire!" after all the damage is done.
If our health care system offered an effective program for prevention, none of these heroic measures would have been necessary. When driving, you don't wait until the last second and then try to swerve away to avoid a crash. You take preventive action from the earliest moment when a potential danger becomes apparent. That's the kind of shift in consciousness I'm advocating for our medical approach to heart disease. From a statistical standpoint we know that most of us are steering toward a cardiovascular `event' of some kind. Let's inform ourselves and start taking preventive action now.
Medical scientists now know that atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease is both preventable and reversible. By taking the blood tests I describe in this book, you can see the train wreck coming long before it actually happens. And you'll know which markers are going to cause it.
By identifying and reversing your specific risk markers, you can dramatically reduce that 75% risk down to 5% or less. You can remove the causes of the "Number One Killer" before they remove you.
As a nation, we have been sold on the notion that to prevent heart disease all we have to do is control our cholesterol, weight, and blood pressure, quit smoking, and eat a low-fat diet. Like Hal, Celeste, Art, Jake, and Chip in the next chapter, you may be convinced that you are doing everything in your power to minimize personal risk. It may surprise you to discover that your risk of a potentially fatal heart attack or stroke - despite your low cholesterol - could still be very high. In this book I'll explain how to apply important recent research findings showing how to identify and sidestep the causes of the heart attacks and strokes that kill most of us.
When a heart attack or a stroke occurs, powerful molecular biological forces have been silently at work for decades, gradually setting the stage for the devastating event. Our understanding of atherosclerosis has now advanced far beyond the simplistic and antiquated notion that cholesterol is at the root of it. Using molecular medicine we can now identify the imbalances leading to heart attack and stroke, and then alter the biochemical landscape to put the body back on track. Early detection allows us to use diet and gentle natural medicines rather than harsh drugs.
If you already suffer from atherosclerotic heart and cardiovascular disease, I'll show you how to identify and repair abnormal markers so your blood vessels can heal. Even if you are perfectly healthy and symptom-free, you can use the heart markers to literally see into your future; you can identify the factors that damage blood vessels and reverse them to prevent a health disaster.