When It Comes to Heart Health, Supplements Really are Supplemental

Coronary heart disease (CHD) remains the single largest killer of American adults. About 38 percent of those who experience a heart attack will die from it. And unless dramatic diet and lifestyle changes occur, almost all of the remaining 62 percent will either die of a second heart attack or heart failureor suffer a greatly reduced quality of life. 

Ninety percent of CHD patients have at least one of these risk factors: high cholesterol, high blood pressure, cigarette smoking, diabetes, obesity, or current medication with cholesterol and/or blood pressure medications. So even if youre being treated with drugs for your blood pressure or cholesterol, its only a technicality and doesnt improve health.

Epidemiologically, deficient blood plasma levels of eicosapentaenoic and docosahexaenoic acids (EPA, DHA), magnesium, B vitamins, coenzyme Q10, vitamins A, C, D, E, carnitine, selenium, and glutathione are indicators for increased risk for CHD.

However with the possible exceptions for fish/krill oil (EPA and DHA sources) and coenzyme Q10, intervention studies where heart patients have taken supplements in order to reduce CHD risk factors and/or the incidence of a second attack have been failures.

Again, one of my natural product axioms is supplements, fruits, vegetables, etc. rarely cure diseases but the absence of them in the diet almost always brings on the disease. Regaining health when you already have heart disease requires more than taking pills, either drugs or supplements. Im not against supplements but they are by definition supplemental!

Interestingly, diet and exercise intervention studies in which patients are taught a new lifestyle do decrease the chances of that dreaded second heart attack. While fish oil doesnt dramatically reduce CHD risk, seafood-based diets do. While C supplementation is helpful, the most beneficial intervention ever reported for reducing CHD risk is eating three servings of fruits/vegetables/cooked dried beans at every meal.

Some lessons from the scientific literature to move us forward:

1.  Seafood contains iodine, zinc, copper, chromium, iron, and protein. Many fish when digested release peptides which are powerful but safe blood-pressure lowering agents. Most importantly, seafood (including seaweeds and krill) contain antioxidants that arent found in land-based foods. The new wonder carotenoid supplement astaxanthin-not surprisingly on its way to becoming a new drug prescribed for CHD-is the best-known example.

2.  A diet rich in fresh, mainly raw plant foods provides fiber, thousands of antioxidant compounds, and establishes functional colonies of beneficial bacteria. They also feature silicon, an often overlooked trace element that is important for arterial health. The next frontier will see CHD, obesity, and diabetes treated with probiotics and prebiotics. Why wait?

3.  Men who skip breakfast have a 27 percent greater risk for CHD. The increased risk jumps to 55 percent for men who eat late at night. Both men and women increase their risk for Type 2 diabetes 21 percent by skipping breakfast. Its not just the meal in the morning: in addition, breakfast eaters are getting up and out to work, exercising, taking kids to school, etc. Depression after an initial CHD event is a near-perfect predictor of an impending second heart attack.