Group items tagged

"LOS ANGELES (September 29, 2009) -- A simple, non-invasive test appears to be an effective screening tool for identifying patients with silent heart disease who are at risk for a heart attack or sudden death. Coronary artery calcium scans can be done without triggering excessive additional testing and costs, according to the multi-center EISNER (Early Identification of Subclinical Atherosclerosis by Noninvasive Imaging Research) study, led by investigators at the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute. The findings appear in today's issue of the findings appear in today's issue of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology."

Heart scan scores starting dropping not just 2%, or 8% . . . but 24%, 30%, 50% and more. We also began to see a larger proportion of people achieving these larger successes. Why? I attribute the surge in success to the addition of vitamin D. With vitamin D added to the mix of strategies in Track Your Plaque, HDL cholesterols went up much higher, LDL dropped further, blood sugars dropped, blood pressures dropped. People felt better, had more energy, gained more clarity in thought. And heart scan scores dropped more readily.

"Because in Track Your Plaque we've been thinking a lot about anthocyanins, here's a rerun of a previous Heart Scan Blog post about red wine. (Anthocyanins are among the interesting flavonoids in red wine, along with resveratrol and quercetin.) "

"Lisa is one of early success stories: a heart scan score of 447 in her early 40's, modest reduction of CT heart scan score three years ago. However, Lisa had a difficult time locating oil-based vitamin D. There has, in fact, been a national run on vitamin D and I'm told that even manufacturers are scrambling to keep up with the booming demand. So, she bought tablets instead and was taking 3000 units per day. She came in for a routine check. Lisa's 25-OH-vitamin D3: 17 ng/ml, signifying severe deficiency, the same as if she were taking nothing at all. (Recall that we aim for 50 ng/ml.) In other words, vitamin D tablets do not work. It is shameful. I see numerous women taking calcium tablets with D--the vitamin D does not work. I've actually seen blood levels of zero on these preparations. "

Vitamin D related articles in "The Heart Scan Blog" by Dr. William Davis

What causes coronary heart disease or coronary atherosclerotic plaque, this thing that we track with heart scans? Well, here are a few little-publicized facts about heart disease that you are unlikely to hear from your When's-the-next-stent? cardiologist or the What is there besides statins? primary care doctor. (Since everybody knows that smoking is a modifiable risk for heart disease that can be readily identified, let's focus on the blood tests that reveal heart disease causes.)

In response to the Heart Scan Blog post, Post-Traumatic Grain Disorder, Anne commented: While on the American Heart Association diet my lipids peaked in 2003. I even tried the Ornish diet for a short time, but found it impossible. Total Cholesterol: 201 Triglycerides: 263 HDL: 62 LDL: 86 After I stopped eating gluten (I am very sensitive), my lipid panel improved slightly. This past year I started eating to keep my blood sugar under control by eliminating sugars and other grains. Now this is my most recent lab: Total Cholesterol: 162 Triglycerides: 80 HDL: 71 LDL: 75

Coronary calcium as a predictor of coronary events in four racial or ethnic groups. Detrano R, Guerci AD, Carr JJ, Bild DE, Burke G, Folsom AR, Liu K, Shea S, Szklo M, Bluemke DA, O'Leary DH, Tracy R, Watson K, Wong ND, Kronmal RA. N Engl J Med. 2008 Mar 27;358(13):1336-45. PMID: 18367736

"The results of the uniquely-constructed ERA JUMP Study were just released, a fascinating study of the relationship of omega-3 fatty acids to coronary and carotid plaque. The study adds insight into why the Japanese experience only one third of the heart attacks of Americans, and why Japan occupies the bottom of the list for least heart attacks among all developed countries. The Electron-Beam Tomography, Risk Factor Assessment Among Japanese and U.S. Men in the Post-World War II Birth Cohort Study (ERA JUMP), a collaborative U.S.-Japanese effort, compared three groups of men: -- 281 Japanese men living in Japan -- 306 non-Japanese men living in the U.S. (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania) -- 303 Japanese Americans (having both parents Japanese without "ethnic admixture") living in Hawaii. The last group represents a group that is genetically similar to the group in Japan, but exposed to an American diet and lifestyle. Three main measures were compared: -- Blood levels of omega-3 fatty acids, EPA and DHA) -- Carotid intimal-medial thickness (CIMT, the thickness of the carotid artery lining that can serve as an index of body-wide atherosclerosis) -- Coronary calcium (heart scan) scores."

"Lipoprotein(a), or Lp(a), is a problem area in coronary plaque reversal. While our current Track Your Plaque record holder for largest percentage reduction in heart scan score has Lp(a), it remains among the more troublesome lipoprotein patterns. One unique treatment for Lp(a) is high-dose omega-3 fatty acids from fish oil. While the data are relatively meager, there is one solid study from Lp(a) expert, Dr. Santica Marcovina of the University of Washington, called "The Lugalawa Study." In this unique set of observations, 1300 members of a Bantu tribe living in Tanzania were studied. What made this population unusual is the fact that two groups of Bantus lived under different circumstances. One group lived on Nyasa Lake (3rd largest lake in Africa and reputed to have the greatest number of species of fish of any lake in the world) and ate large quantities of freshwater fish providing up to 500 mg of omega-3s, EPA and DHA, per day. Another Bantu group lived away from the lake as farmers, eating a pure vegetarian diet without fish. "

The Diet-Heart Hypothesis: Subdividing Lipoproteins Two posts ago, we made the rounds of the commonly measured blood lipids (total cholesterol, LDL, HDL, triglycerides) and how they associate with cardiac risk. It's important to keep in mind that many things associate with cardiac risk, not just blood lipids. For example, men with low serum vitamin D are at a 2.4-fold greater risk of heart attack than men with higher D levels. That alone is roughly equivalent to the predictive power of the blood lipids you get measured at the doctor's office. Coronary calcium scans (a measure of blood vessel calcification) also associate with cardiac risk better than the most commonly measured blood lipids. Lipoproteins Can be Subdivided into Several Subcategories In the continual search for better measures of cardiac risk, researchers in the 1980s decided to break down lipoprotein particles into sub-categories. One of these researchers is Dr. Ronald M. Krauss. Krauss published extensively on the association between lipoprotein size and cardiac risk, eventually concluding (source): The plasma lipoprotein profile accompanying a preponderance of small, dense LDL particles (specifically LDL-III) is associated with up to a threefold increase in the susceptibility of developing [coronary artery disease]. This has been demonstrated in case-control studies of myocardial infarction and angiographically documented coronary disease. Krauss found that small, dense LDL (sdLDL) doesn't travel alone: it typically comes along with low HDL and high triglycerides*. He called this combination of factors "lipoprotein pattern B"; its opposite is "lipoprotein pattern A": large, buoyant LDL, high HDL and low triglycerides. Incidentally, low HDL and high triglycerides are hallmarks of the metabolic syndrome, the quintessential modern metabolic disorder. Krauss and his colleagues went on to hypothesize that sdLDL promotes atherosclerosis because of its ability to penetrate the artery wall more easily

"A new study finds that obese people have brains that eight percent smaller than thin people and those brains look 16 years older. Live Science.com reports that this condition makes it harder to think and puts people at greater risk for Alzheimer's and other diseases. The results, based on brain scans of 94 people in their 70s, represent "severe brain degeneration," said Paul Thompson, senior author of the study and a UCLA professor of neurology. "

Brain Tumor risks including surgery facts, as well as diagnosis also types either the primary tumor or secondary tumor. Treatments like MRI CT scan helping you to decide better for your health.

The Author The author of this site is the British writer, John Davidson. Please note that the author is neither a doctor, nor a qualified health practitioner. Every cancer patient should always consult his or her medical practitioner with regard to the use of complementary remedies or treatments, and nothing on this site should be construed in any way as medical or therapeutic advice. It is simply the result of one person's search for solutions. Please read our disclaimer. About This Site Internet searches trawl up vast amounts of information about cancer, from a broad spectrum of viewpoints. The information and internet links on this site are for those seeking to augment the treatment offered by their hospital oncology (cancer) unit. Of course, a great many other internet sites concerning cancer can be found by keying the requisite search words into any of the major search engines. The content of this site was initially prepared, at the request of medical and nursing staff and others, some weeks after I had had an emergency operation for the removal of a colon cancer, and while undergoing chemotherapy in case any cancer cells had gone AWOL. There had been some escape of cancer cells into associated lymph nodes (3 out of 17, including the most distal), but no other tumours had been picked up by a CT scan. When I returned home from hospital in September 2005, with the help of friends, I started doing some research on cancer. I was amazed to discover that despite the billions of pounds/euros/dollars etc. spent on cancer research, and the many advances in understanding the numerous variants of the disease, the standard treatment for my stage of colon cancer is still a drug (fluorouracil, also called 5FU) that has been in use for more than forty years, has uncomfortable side effects, and which only increases the chances of survival after five years by 5 to 10%.

If wheat is so bad, what about all the other grains? First of all, I demonize wheat because of its top-of-the-list role in triggering: --Appetite--Wheat increases hunger dramatically --Insulin --Blood sugar--Wheat is worse than table sugar in triggering a rapid, large rise in blood sugar --Triglycerides --Small LDL particles--the number one cause for heart disease in the U.S. --Reduced HDL --Diabetes --Autoimmune diseases--Most notably celiac disease and thyroiditis. Most other "healthy, whole grains" aren't quite as bad. It's a matter of degree.

Can including wheat in your diet create hell on earth? Was The Inferno nothing more than Danté's prediction for the state of the U.S. diet circa 2009? I'm kidding on The Inferno allusion, but the American diet nonetheless sure does create an inferno of unhealthy phenomena.

What is C-reactive protein (CRP)? It is a blood-borne protein that originates in the liver and serves as an index of the body's inflammatory state. It is triggered by yet another inflammatory signal molecule, interleukin-6. What triggers this cascade of inflammatory markers? Any inflammatory stimulus, such as being overweight, lack of exercise, vitamin D deficiency, viral illness no matter how trivial, any inflammatory disease like arthritis, small LDL, high triglycerides, poor diet rich in processed foods, resistance to insulin, any injury, incipient diabetes, hidden cancer, lack of education (no kidding), etc.

A Track Your Plaque member brough the following webcast to our attention: Prospects for Vitamin D Nutrition\nwhich can be found at http://tinyurl.com/f93vl (The above link no longer seems to work, use http://wildhorse.insinc.com/directms13oct2005/ instead) Despite the painfully dull title, the webcast is the best summary of data on the health benefits on vitamin D that I've seen. The presenter is Dr. Reinhold Vieth, who is among the handful of worldwide authorities on vitamin D. In 1999, Dr. Vieth authored the first review to concisely and persuasively argue that vitamin D nutrition was woefully neglected and that its potential for health was enormous.

It seems not a single day passes that I don't learn something new about this unique hormone (mis)named "vitamin D." \nFrom its humble beginnings recognized only as the factor responsible for bone maturation (with deficiency leading to childhood rickets), vitamin D now commands a recognized role in almost every conceivable aspect of health and disease. \n

Dr. Michael Eades on the Paleolithic diet\nDr. Michael Eades has posted an absolutely spectacular commentary on the Paleolithic diet concept: \n\nRapid health improvements with a Paleolithic diet