Although there is much more talk about cancer or AIDS, cardiovascular disease remains the second leading cause of death with nearly 138,900 deaths per year in France (2013). That's why preventing heart disease should be a priority for all of us. Fortunately, natural medicine offers us many possibilities that we should be aware of.
The heart, a muscle that works day and night
The heart is a hollow muscle that pumps blood throughout the body, allowing cells to receive oxygen and nutrients (arteries) and eliminate their waste products (veins). The heart does a lot of work, circulating 5 liters of blood per minute in the body. During an effort, the heart can pump 35 liters of blood per minute. Every day, the heart will perform about 100,000 beats to pump 7200 liters of blood!
To perform this colossal work, the heart must, even more than any other organ, be properly supplied with oxygen and nutrients. That's why it has its own system of feeder vessels, called coronary arteries.
Prevention is better than cure
The 4 main cardiovascular risk factors are cholesterol, hypertension, tobacco and sedentary lifestyle.Since they are all modifiable by preventive or curative measures, there is therefore an easy way to decrease one's risk of cardiovascular mortality.
Cholesterol clogs arteries
Excess cholesterol is deposited on the walls of the arteries forming fatty plaques that progressively reduce the size of the blood vessels. The passage of blood becomes more difficult until the formation of a clot (thrombosis) which will completely block the artery.
The arteries of the heart (coronary), those of the brain and the legs are particularly affected. If the blood flow is interrupted, then we speak respectively of myocardial infarction, stroke or arteritis of the lower limbs.
LDL cholesterol is the bad cholesterol because it is he who can fix in the blood vessels
and gradually block them. HDL cholesterol is the good cholesterol because it is the one that leaves the cells to be recycled and eliminated by the liver.
Ideally, the total cholesterol should be less than 2 g/l otherwise it is necessary to treat.
Personally, I prefer to avoid the classic anti-cholesterol drugs that have many side effects I use an all-natural formula that reduces bad cholesterol while increasing good cholesterol as effectively as conventional medications.
High blood pressure damages the arteries
Hypertension affects about 10 million people in France.
It is a sneaky disease because it is usually asymptomatic, but its complications are formidable because hypertension is a major risk factor for cardiac events.
Most doctors call hypertension essential, a term that means the cause of the disease is unknown. This is indeed ridiculous since hypertension is the direct consequence of factors that lead to hardening of the arteries or factors that disrupt the function of the kidneys in its regulation of body fluids.
It is known that hardening of the arteries (by excess cholesterol) promotes hypertension.
Finally a natural product effective against hypertension
A purified mixture of 9 peptides found in the flesh of bonito fish. These peptides reduce blood pressure through an anti-ACE (Angiotensin Converting Enzyme) action. Blocking this enzyme lowers the levels of angiotensin 2, which increases the volume of the circulation and decreases the size of the blood vessels. The action of angiotensin 2 can be compared to a garden hose that would be simultaneously clamped while the tap is open to the maximum.
The action of these anti-ACE peptides will therefore be to inhibit the formation of angiotensin 2 with a consequent decrease in circulating blood volume accompanied by a dilation of blood vessels.
Cardiac pathologies
We have just seen how to reduce our cardiovascular risk by effectively controlling our cholesterol level and high blood pressure.
Let's now see what natural medicine can offer to people already suffering from heart disease.
There are 3 main varieties of heart disorders:
- Either the heart muscle is worn out and no longer provides sufficient flow, this is heart failure which mainly affects elderly people.
- Either the heart's feeder vessels (the coronaries) are partially blocked or completely obstructed and this is respectively angina or heart attack.
- Either there is a problem with the electrical control of the heartbeat and these are heart rhythm disorders.
Heart failure
Heart failure occurs when the heart can no longer do its job as a pump effectively and therefore no longer provides sufficient blood flow to keep the tissues functioning properly. This pathology mainly affects elderly people whose hearts are simply tired. They are easily recognized by a simple observation: these people can no longer lie flat and are forced to sleep in a semi-sitting position with several pillows in the back under pain of suffocation.
I use in this case Coenzyme Q10 but in the form of ubiquinol, which is 10 more effective than the classic CoQ10.
CoQ10 is present in the mitochondria of all of our cells where it plays a crucial role in energy production. However, in humans, CoQ10 levels decrease progressively from the age of 20 years to become practically nil around the age of 50. This has the effect of accelerating aging and weakening the heart muscle.
Angina pectoris and myocardial infarction
The heart muscle is vascularized by the coronary arteries. When the caliber of these arteries decreases (due to cholesterol deposits), the heart no longer receives enough blood and lacks oxygen, especially if it must make an effort. This results in pain in the middle of the chest, which is the angina pectoris attack. If one or more coronary arteries become completely blocked, this results in the death of a more or less extensive area of heart muscle, which is the myocardial infarction. This condition will require hospitalization followed by a period of revalidation and drug treatment.
Angina and heart attack are two conditions that have the same origin namely clogged arteries. Conventional medicine does not offer any treatment to "clean" one's arteries, whereas in natural medicine we have the method of oral chelation.
Oral chelation is a method of cleaning arteries, which, beyond discussions and controversies, has proven to be safe and extraordinarily effective. It is now possible to help the circulatory system, in an entirely nutritional way, to rid the body of unacceptable plaques embedded in the artery walls.
Heart rhythm disorders
In the upper part of the heart, there is a small piece of very special heart tissue called the sino-atrial node. It is the natural pacemaker that triggers the heartbeat with a small electrical impulse but also regulates the heart rate. Rhythm disorders are very numerous and varied and it is impossible to describe them in this article. Let's just remember that many of these cardiac arrhythmias will be able to be significantly improved by simple means such as certain dietary corrections like coffee, alcohol or tobacco abuse.
In natural medicine, I get very nice results using a combination of two minerals which are magnesium and potassium. However, for questions of effectiveness and safety (for potassium), it is absolutely essential to take them in the form of Potassium Tricitrates and Magnesium Bisglycinate, which are selective carriers that allow the minerals to better penetrate the heart of the cell.
Herbal tea" for the heart
I would like to end this review of natural therapeutics for the heart with a cocktail of plants that I associate in all heart problems with the different treatments described in this article. A formula based on plants that act in synergy and have demonstrated the following effects: improvement of blood circulation and blood pressure, improvement of cell oxygenation, maintenance of the suppleness of the coronary arteries, prevention of atherosclerosis and normalization of the heart rhythm. The formula is based on Garlic, Cayenne Pepper, Blueberry, Hawthorn, Olive Leaf, White Willow Bark.
By Dr. Thierry Schmitz