ARTERIOSCLEROSIS AND ATHEROSCLEROSIS

by Dr. Lawrence Wilson

All information in this article is solely the opinion of the author and is for educational purposes only. It is not for the diagnosis, treatment, prescription or cure of any disease or health condition.

Contents

I. INTRODUCTION

Definitions

The Sequence Of Events

II. DEEPER CAUSES FOR ARTERY DISEASE

Nutritional Imbalances

Toxic Metals

Other Nutrient Deficiencies

Stress

III. SYMPTOMS

Early Symptoms

Later Symptoms

IV. IDENTIFYING ARTERY DISEASE

Hair Mineral Analysis

Other Tests

V. CORRECTION WITH A DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

Medical Treatment

Statin Drugs

Other Articles About Cardiovascular Disease

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I. INTRODUCTION

Definitions: Arteriosclerosis is a multi-step process that is the leading cause of death in the Western nations of the world at this time. The steps in the process are described below.

Atherosclerosis is the buildup of fatty plaques or layers of fat inside the arteries. This is just a later stage of arteriosclerosis.

The sequence of events. Here is the sequence of events that causes artery disease:

1. The arteries become weak and inflamed. This is due to zinc and perhaps other nutritional deficiencies. Cadmium replaces the zinc in the arteries and causes hardening and inflammation of the arteries.

2. The body coats the weakened arteries with calcium on the inside of the artery to prevent it from rupturing. Rupturing an artery is a health disaster than usually causes death. Anything is better than a ruptured artery!

3. The calcium plaques, as they are called, have at least two harmful effects. First, the plaques reduce the inside diameter of the artery. Secondly, calcium is a hard mineral and the artery becomes less flexible. Arteries are supposed to be soft and flexible.

4. The smaller diameter and hardening of the artery reduces blood flow and often raises blood pressure because the artery cannot expand and contract each time the heart beats. Also, when there is not enough blood flow, the body tries to pump more blood through the artery by raising the pressure of the blood.

5. Reduced blood flow and high blood pressure cause:

- Impaired circulation causes cold extremities, claudication (problems walking), angina (pain in the chest when one exercises), kidney disease, eye disease and more. One of the worst problems is dementia if the brain does not receive enough blood.

- Strokes and heart attacks because pieces of plaque from clogged arteries break off and float around the body.

- Congestive heart failure. The heart has to pump harder and harder. It can enlarge and eventually it is unable to keep pumping at high pressure. This is called heart failure.

- Death. A weakened artery, especially if the blood pressure is high, can break open and the loss of blood from the artery can be fatal.

II. DEEPER CAUSES FOR ARTERY DISEASE

The medical profession blames smoking, diabetes, high cholesterol, high triglycerides, or other diseases for the problems of arteriosclerosis. However, they ignore the deeper causes, which are listed below:

1. DIET

Four big changes in the Western diet (listed below) have contributed a lot to the recent rise of diseases of modern civilization, such as diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, tooth decay & cancer.

N-P-K chemical fertilizers. The first change was the adoption of superphosphate fertilizers in the early 20th century. Plants grow big and fast with N-P-K chemicals (Nitrogen-Phosphorus-Potassium) but the plants contain many fewer essential minerals when fertilized this way.

Specifically, we no longer get enough magnesium, iodine, good quality potassium, zinc, manganese and other vital minerals from our diet. For more on this important subject, read Superphosphates on this site.

Chlorinated drinking water. In the 60s, a US Army combat surgeon, Dr Joseph M. Price, observed the heavy arterial plaques when operating on young and otherwise healthy wounded soldiers. He somehow figured that the army issue chlorine tablets were involved and after leaving the army studied the effects of chlorine on chickens. He published his findings in 1969 in the book

"Coronaries, Cholesterol, And Chlorine", which resulted in today's poultry industry not feeding chickens with chlorinated water. However, we still chlorinate the drinking water and the findings on chlorine have been largely ignored.

Modern hybridized wheat. Wheat has become a very irritating and inflammatory food item. A good book about the subject is by William Davis, MD, a preventive cardiologist. He wrote Wheat Belly: Lose the Wheat, Lose the Weight.

There is also a talk by Dr. Davis on this subject on Youtube at:

www.youtube.com/user/wheatbelly

www.wheatbellyblog.com.

There is also a blog about this subject called Wheat's Cardiotoxicity: As Serious As A Heart Attack. It is available at:

http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/wheats-cardiotoxicity-serious-heart-attack

Consuming vegetable oils. The conventional wisdom about cholesterol is completely backwards. People have been taught that the polyunsaturated vegetable oils (i.e. liquid at room temperature) are better than eating saturated fat. This is not true.

The reason is they are high in omega-6 fatty acids, which cause inflammation.

They include oils from corn, soy, canola, safflower, sunflower, peanut and perhaps others. A little of these is okay, and some are found in blue corn chips, which we need for development in small quantity only.

Omega-3 needed. However, one must take a supplement of the omega-3 fatty acids with them, or eat 3-4 cans of sardines weekly to obtain the omega-3 fatty acids needed to balance the omega-6 fatty acids found in all vegetable oils.

The fat in almond butter, sardines, and that from lamb, chicken and grass-fed cows is among the best. Some olive and sunflower oil is okay, but do not use olive oil exclusively.

"Numerous populations consuming high amounts of saturated fat have been observed to enjoy extremely low rates of heart disease. These populations have been consistently ignored by promoters of the anti-fat/cholesterol theory."

http://chriskresser.com/the-most-important-thing-you-probably-dont-know-about-cholesterol

AGES or Advanced Glycation End Products. These are associated with artery disease and often come from the diet. For details, read AGES.

2. TOXIC METALS

This is a very important cause of cardiovascular disease. For example, cadmium can replace zinc in the arteries. When this occurs, the arteries become more rigid, brittle and inflamed. Copper toxicity and toxicity with other toxic metals also affects the arteries.

Here is a quick story. An engineer friend of this author owned a factory that made surgical gloves. He explained that if he wants the gloves to be more flexible, he adds more zinc to the rubber used to make the gloves. If he wants the gloves to be more rigid, he adds more cadmium to the rubber used to make the gloves.

The author then replied – that is exactly what occurs in the arteries of our bodies!

3. OTHER NUTRIENT DEFICIENCIES

Many nutrients are needed for the arteries and veins. Refined food diets and junk food diets are deficient in dozens of them. This contributes to inflammation and weakness of the arteries.

4. STRESS FROM ANY CAUSE

Stress depletes zinc and other nutrients, and increases the body’s need for nutrients.

III. SYMPTOMS

Early symptoms. There are often few symptoms in the early stages of artery disease. As it progresses, blood pressure can rise, one may feel tired, the pulse rate may increase, and one may develop impaired circulation.

Later symptoms. As the process proceeds, men may notice erectile dysfunction. Other problems can develop such as congestive heart failure, kidney failure, eye diseases, trouble walking, angina pain, and dementia. Heart attacks (called myocardial infarctions or MI), strokes, transient ischemic attacks (TIAs) and other cardiovascular events often end life.

IV. IDENTIFYING ARTERIAL DISEASE

HAIR MINERAL TESTING

Hair mineral testing is not helpful to identify serious cases of artery diseases. However, possible indicators of artery disease on a hair mineral test are:

1. A hair cadmium level above about 0.01 mg%.

2. A sodium/potassium ratio less than about 2.

3. Poor eliminator patterns. These are very low levels of toxic metals and some other minerals. For details, read Poor Eliminators.

4. Possibly excessive levels of other toxic metals such as lead, arsenic and nickel.

OTHER TESTS

Ultrasound of the carotid arteries is a common screening test that is non-invasive and will detect some artery disease. Other methods are chest and other x-rays, arteriograms and other scans.

Feeling all the pulses on the legs and feet may also give an indication of it. Blood tests may reveal impaired kidney function. Eye exams are often excellent to show arterial disease because one can see the arteries clearly in the eyes.

Most people over age 60 have some degree of artery disease and a development program corrects it, so we do not feel the need to test for it. We just assume it is present and focus on its correction.

V. CORRECTION WITH A DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

This program remineralizes and renourishes the body, improves zinc status and removes cadmium from the arteries. This restores the strength and flexibility of the arteries. The body no longer needs to coat them to protect them from rupturing and the calcium plaques are slowly reabsorbed.

Correction requires at least a few months and up to several years, depending upon how longstanding and how severe the problem is. However, with patience and persistence, the arteries can be rejuvenated.

Medical treatment. Forward-thinking physicians are beginning to focus more on a change of diet, exercise and weight loss to combat artery disease. However, most of conventional medical treatment still is the use of toxic drugs and surgery to palliate symptoms. It is very toxic and very expensive.

According to many holistic physicians, the medical treatment of cardiovascular disease is one of the worst features of conventional medical care today. People are often pressured into bypass and other surgeries at a cost of several hundred thousands dollars.

The treatment bankrupts many people. Also, the toxicity of long surgeries and drug therapy leaves most who go this route with permanent mental disabilities. Meanwhile, none of this therapy addresses the deeper causes of ill health, and worsens overall health.

Statin drugs. These are among the worst drugs! Millions of people take them. One of the adverse effects is actually heart attacks!

We believe they should never be used. For mild elevation of cholesterol, up to about 250 mg/dl, studies show that no treatment is better than drug treatment. Serum cholesterol is a stress indicator. Lowering it too much is actually harmful because it is needed make stress hormones.

If one wants to lower cholesterol, one can use red rice yeast. It contains compounds similar to those in statin drugs, and does not cause the adverse effects caused by statin drugs of muscle weakness and other serious problems. For more details, read Cholesterolphobia.

OTHER ARTICLES ABOUT CARDIOVASCULAR CONDITIONS

There are several other articles about cardiovascular health on this website. To view them, click here.

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