How to beat heart disease before it starts

Why may healthy lifestyle choices eliminate 90% of the risk of a heart attack, while medications may reduce the risk by only 20% to 30%?

In the Standard American Diet, atherosclerosis – hardening of the arteries, the number one killer of men and women – is found to be… It starts In our teens. Investigators collected About 3,000 sets of coronary arteries and aortas (the aorta is the body’s main artery) from victims of accidents, homicides and suicides who ranged in age from 15 to 34 years old, and found that fatty streaks in the arteries can begin to form in the teens, which turn into atherosclerotic plaques in the 20s that get worse in the 30s and can then become fatal. In the heart, atherosclerosis can cause a heart attack. In the brain, it can cause a stroke. Watch the progress below and at 0:35 in my video Can my cholesterol level get too low?.

How common is this? All the teens they looked at — 100% of them — actually king Fatty streaks accumulate inside their arteries. By their early 30s, most of them already had those lines blossoming into atherosclerotic plaques that had bulged in their arteries. From ages 15 to 19, their aortas had streaks of fat accumulating all over them, but no plaques yet, on average, as shown below and at 1:15 in my photo. video.

The paintings started Appearance In my abdominal aorta in my early twenties, it worsened in my late twenties, by which time the fatty lines had crept up all over my body. By their early 30s, their arteries were in poor condition, as shown below and at 1:25 in my photo. video.

But that’s just the abdominal aorta, the main artery that runs through the torso and divides into our legs. What about the coronary arteries that feed the heart?

Researchers Found Same pattern: fatty streaks in teens, early signs of plaque in the early 20s that progress with age, and by the early 30s, most people already have plaques in their coronary arteries, as shown below and at 1:47 in my photo. video.

arteriosclerosis It starts Early adolescence.

That’s why we shouldn’t I am waiting Until heart disease becomes a symptom of its treatment. If it starts in our youth, we should start treating it when we are young. If you know you have a cancerous tumor, you don’t want to wait until it grows to a certain size to treat it. If you have diabetes, you don’t want to wait until you become blind before you do something about it. So, how do you treat atherosclerosis? You minimum Low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol through a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol, a diet low in eggs, meat, dairy products, and junk foods.

If we want to stop this epidemic, we mustchanging We live our lives accordingly, starting from infancy or early childhood. Is such a radical proposal completely impractical? (Eating healthier? Radical?!) It may take serious dedication to change our behavior, but atherosclerosis is our number one cause of death. In the case of cigarettes, we’ve done well, reducing smoking rates and lowering lung cancer rates. And yes, healthy eating is safe. Even strictly vegetarian diets, according to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, the world’s largest and oldest association of nutrition professionals We are Suitable for all stages of life starting from pregnancy. (NutritionFacts.org is among the sites recommended by the academy for more information.)

Title of an important study published in Journal of the American College of Cardiology He declares: “Treatment of atherosclerosis should be the next major goal of cardiovascular disease prevention.” What evidence do we have that lifelong LDL suppression will work? there He is A genetic mutation of a gene called PCSK9, which about 1 in 50 African Americans are lucky enough to be born with because it gives them a 40% reduction in their bad LDL cholesterol level over their lifetime. And indeed they were found He owns Significantly lower rates of coronary heart disease – 88% reduction in risk compared to those without the genetic mutation, despite terrible cardiovascular risk factors on average. Most had high blood pressure and were overweight, almost a third were smokers, and nearly 20% had diabetes, but this highlights how a long history of low levels of bad LDL cholesterol can significantly reduce the risk of coronary heart disease, even when multiple risk factors are present.

This is an approximately 90% reduction in events such as heart attacks or sudden death It happened At an average LDL level of 100 mg/dL, compared to 138 mg/dL in those without the genetic mutation. This means that LDL can drop even below 100 mg/dL. Why does a drop in LDL cholesterol of about 40 mg/dL occur as a result of a lucky genetic mutation? minimum The risk of coronary heart disease is reduced by about 90%, while the same reduction with statin drugs reduces it by only about 20%? The most likely explanation? period. When it comes to lowering LDL cholesterol, it’s not just a matter of how low, but for how long.

That’s why there may be healthy lifestyle options Wipe About 90% of our risk of having a heart attack, while medications may reduce it by only 20% to 30%. If you get deal With medications later in life, you may have to lower your low-density lipoprotein (LDL) level to less than 70 mg/dL to stop the progression of coronary atherosclerosis. But if we It starts Making healthy choices early may be enough to lower your LDL cholesterol to just 100 mg/dL, which is what should be achieved for most of us. This is consistent with country-specific data suggesting that deaths from heart disease will bottom out at a population average of around 100 mg/dL, as shown below and at 5:21 in my report. video.

But that’s only if you can keep your bad LDL cholesterol at a low level throughout your life.

If you rely on medication later in life to stop disease progression, you may do so needs To get your LDL level below 70 mg/dL, and if you’ve been trying to use medications to reverse poor food choices throughout your life, you may not reach zero incidence of coronary heart disease until your low-density lipoprotein (LDL) level drops to about 55 mg/dL. If your heart disease is so bad that you’ve already had a heart attack but are trying not to die from another, ideally, you might want to lower your low-density lipoprotein (LDL) level to about 30 mg/dL. One time for you It happens At this low level, you will not only prevent any new atherosclerotic plaques from forming, but you will also help stability Plaques you already have so they are less likely to burst and kill you.

He is Is it safe to have cholesterol levels that low? In other words, could your LDL cholesterol level be too low? We’ll find out next.

Doctor’s note

I didn’t know that atherosclerosis could start at such a young age? See Heart disease begins in childhood.

To learn more about drugs vs lifestyle, watch my video The actual benefit of diet versus drugs.

Do you want to learn more about so-called primal prevention? See When low risk means high risk.

Does cholesterol size matter? Watch the video to find out.