Cardiovascular Disease
Cardiovascular Disease
Heart disease is a complex, chronic disease with many diverse causes.
Root Cause Healing 
Despite all the medical advances, heart disease is still our #1 killer. For decades, you have been told the five risk factors linked to almost all cases of heart disease are:
- high cholesterol
- high blood pressure
- obesity
- diabetes mellitus
- smoking
You have been told that if you just keep these 5 risk factors in check you have nothing to worry about. Unfortunately, heart disease is not a single entity. It is a complex, chronic disease with many diverse causes. It involves constant interactions among genetics, environment, and lifestyle that make each individual unique.
View Products“Today we understand that heart disease begins with an injury to the endothelium. Many things can cause this damage, including substances in cigarette smoke, elevated blood sugar, homocysteine in the bloodstream, chronic infections, toxins, oxidized LDL cholesterol or high blood pressure. To prevent CVD we must protect the endothelium.”
Prevalance
About 610,000 people die of heart disease in the United States every year–that’s 1 in every 4 deaths. Heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women. More than half of the deaths due to heart disease in 2009 were in men.
Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) is the most common type of heart disease, killing over 370,000 people annually.
Every year about 735,000 Americans have a heart attack. Of these, 525,000 are a first heart attack and 210,000 happen in people who have already had a heart attack.
Understanding Cardiovascular Disease
As you have seen by now, coronary heart disease is a complex, multifaceted disease. Given heart disease is your #1 threat, this should be your primary area of focus for a long healthy life. Our goal is to provide you with the understanding of the latest research including what lab tests to request from your physician, which diets offer the best protection against heart disease, how to understand lab results including optimal levels, and the best supplements and lifestyle choices to correct underlying issues.
Continue reading about Cardiovascular Disease here >
Symptoms of Cardiovascular Disease
Common symptoms include inflammation, oxidative stress, vascular autoimmunity, dyslipidemia, high blood pressure, high blood sugar, obesity and increased body fat. Additionally, we now understand heart disease begins in the arteries, more specifically, in the endothelium. The endothelium is the point of contact between blood and the artery and is only one cell layer deep. If the endothelium is damaged you will find yourself on the road to numerous ailments including heart disease, even if you are thin, a nonsmoker, and have great cholesterol levels and low blood pressure. By now, we all know the signs and symptoms of heart disease. However, we want to take a functional medicine approach by going well beyond traditional signs and symptoms and looking at markers to assess metabolism, inflammation, oxidative stress, autoimmunity, dyslipidemia, and endothelial health.