by Timothy Schwaiger, ND
Heart disease is the most common cause of death in the United States, even above cancer. Some of the risk factors that lead to the development of heart disease can be altered by changes we make and some are inherent in our family history.
There are two ways to look at heart disease; that which is promoted by circumstances that are within our control and that by which is out of our control. Those situations out of our control include increasing age, family history of heart disease, and being male. These are all factors that may put us at higher risk of developing heart disease.
On the other hand there are things we can control such as smoking, elevated lipids, high blood pressure, diet and exercise. These represent things that we can do to reduce the potential of developing heart disease.
Screening
Screening for cardiovascular disease should begin early in life. There are several ways this can be done in the doctor’s office:
- Check blood pressure at your yearly office visit starting at age 20 and more frequently if you are over age 40.
- Have your fasting lipoproteins checked. Laboratory tests have become much more sensitive in predicting greater risks for developing cardiovascular disease, and insurance companies usually cover these tests. Besides lipoproteins other markers are important such as inflammatory markers (hs-CRP, fibrinogen, Lp-PLA2, and others) and Vitamin D levels.
- Blood sugar and insulin
- Waist and hip circumference
- Diet and exercise assessment. All of these have an impact on the risk of heart disease
Natural Therapies
Once your risks are identified, your Naturopathic Doctor can provide natural interventions to support lowering your risks. Here are a few examples
- Vitamin D deficiency is related to hypertension and supplementation can help reduce blood pressure
- Nattokinase (extracted and purified from a Japanese food called natto) can reduce fibrinogen levels
- Red yeast rice (fermentation of Monascus purpureus) can reduce total cholesterol and LDL while raising the good cholesterol HDL
- Using techniques such as RESPeRATE® or emWave® may help lower your blood pressure
We have many techniques and therapies to help prevent and treat signs of cardiovascular disease. We also have many advanced cardiovascular tests that we can run to further assess your risk factors beyond conventional lipid panel. Please contact any of the doctors for more information.