Cardiovascular Disease

Cardiovascular diseases, also known as heart diseases, include various conditions that affect the cardiovascular system. While some occur as birth defects and some are influenced by your genes, many can be developed or reversed by lifestyle choices including nutrition, exercise, and stress management. Some of the common cardiovascular diseases include:

• Atherosclerosis: formation of a clot in blood vessels. This is commonly considered as a potential risk when cholesterol is elevated, but inflammatory markers related to plaque formation and many genetic risk factors are more sensitive predictors of plaque formation and rupture. These markers can be screened for at our office with simple blood and saliva tests.
• Coronary artery disease (CAD): hardening of the arteries that supply oxygen and nutrients to the heart muscle.
• Hypercholesterolemia: also known as elevated cholesterol, this generally refers to LDL cholesterol (the “bad” cholesterol). This is often diagnosed with elevated LDL (people often think of this as “bad” cholesterol) during routine annual bloodwork. Interestingly enough, LDL levels are not the best predictors of cardiovascular events. The descriptors of that cholesterol are much more important: is it dense or fluffy, small or large, how many particles are there, etc. These descriptors are part of our initial bloodwork. Several of these tests are endorsed by the American Diabetes Association and the American College of Cardiology as the more accurate ways to measure cardiovascular risk.
• Heart attack (myocardial infarction): damage to heart muscles due to blockage of blood vessels supplying. If you have a history of heart attack, certain nutrition and lifestyle modifications can reduce your risk for recurring heart attacks or continued cardiovascular disease. Particular formulations of fish oil, but not all combinations, are also known to help reduce risk of recurring heart attacks in patients with history of myocardial infarctions.
• Heart failure: the heart fails to pump blood in order to maintain the metabolic needs of the body. While this sounds intimidating and is very clinically serious, several markers found in our initial bloodwork provide good predictors of development of heart failure before common symptoms can be seen.
• Stroke: reduce or lack of blood flow to the brain. Various genetic markers related to the formation of blood clots, particularly Factor II and Factor V single mutations, can play a significant role in the formation of blood clots that can lead to stroke. If you have a personal or family history of stroke find out if you are genetically susceptible and begin making lifestyle changes that will reduce your risk for future strokes due to blood clot formation.
• High blood pressure (hypertension): excessive pressure against the walls of the arteries causing the heart to pump harder to spread blood throughout your body. This can cause damage to sensitive kidney tissue over time and contribute to kidney disease. Did you know that 64-67% of people who followed lifestyle recommendations for 12 weeks had normalized blood pressure without use of pharmaceuticals?
• Cardiomyopathy: abnormal thickening, enlargement, and/or stiffening of heart, which weakens the heart muscles
• Pericarditis: infection and inflammation of the heart’s lining

If you or your family have a history of cardiovascular disease or a cardiovascular event (stroke or heart attack) please come in for a cardiac screening. Our initial blood work includes in-depth profiles of cardiovascular inflammation, types and structures of cholesterols, effectiveness of your healthy cholesterol in protecting you, and much more.