Coronary Heart Disease

It is well known that Coronary Heart Disease or Coronary Artery Disease is the result of modern Western Life style.
Coronary Artery Disease with Angina is because of Atherosclerosis. This is a condition when arteries including arteries in the heart are blocked with so called atherosclerotic plaques, filled with cholesterol, other fats, cells, etc.

Reasons:

  1. Too much free radicals.
  2. Inflammation.
  3. Toxins like nicotine (1).
  4. Nutritional deficiencies like magnesium, omega 3 fatty acids (2).
  5. Hormonal imbalances like hypothyrodisim.
  6. Other nutritional imbalances.

What diet changes you need:

  1. Increase intake of cold water fish provided that it is not loaded with mercury or other toxins ( check fish selector tool ), extra virgin olive oil preferably organic, nuts and seeds.  Reason: to lower omega 6 to omega 3 ratio and hence increase your heart and vessels protection (3,4,5).
  2. Take more carotene rich fruits vegetables, especially tomatoes, garlic, green leafy vegetables.  Red win in moderation may be beneficial provided that there are no contraindications.  Reason: their fiber content and antioxidative properties ( 6,7).
  3. Avoid red meats, hamburgers, hot dogs, ice cream, cakes, cookies, caffeine, salt, fried foods, snacks, soft drinks, refined cereals, white bread, refined carbohydrates.  In short: get rid of processed food.
  4. No big meals even occasionally because they can cause plaque rupcture and hence heart attack.

Heart Failure dietary suggestions:

1.  Increase intake of plant foods.

2.  Avoid saturated fats.

3.  Stay away from salt.

4.  Follow recommendations for Hypertension.

Of course diet alone cannot fix the problem.  It cannot fix Neurotransmitter Imbalance, it may not be able to fix minerals and vitamins deficiency because of maldigestion or malabsorbtion. It cannot fix Hormonal Imbalances either. To figure out what is going on you need to see Functional Medicine Doctor to go to the root cause of the problem and elimiate it.

References:
1.  Qiao, Tervahaut,a Nissinen.  Mortality from all causes and from coronary heart disease related to smoking and changes in smoking during a 35 year follow up in middle aged Finnish men.  European Heart Journal 2000, 21: 1621-1626.
2.  Maier.  Low magnesium and atherosclerosis: an evidence based link. Molecular aspects of medicine 2003, 24:137-146.
3.  Alarson de la Lastra, Barranco, Motilva.  Mediterranean diet and health: biological importance of olive oil.  Current Pharmacology Design 2001, 7: 933-950.
4.  Bucher, Hengstler, Schindler.  N 3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in coronary heart disease.  American Journal of Medicine 2002, 112: 298-304.
5.  Hu, Stampfer.  Nut consumption and risk of coronary heart disease. Current Atherosclerosis Report 1999, 1:204-209.
6.  Ford, Liu, Mannino. C reactive protein concentration and concentrations of blood vitamins, carotenoids and selenium among United States adults.  European Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2003, 57: 1157-1163.
7.  Weisburger.  Lycopene and tomato products in health promotion.  Experimental Biology and Medicine 2002, 227: 9240927.