January 2008

Teaching patients about heart health

The American Heart Association's "2007 Update on Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics," [1] reveals that cardiovascular disease (CVD) accounted for 36.3% of all deaths in 2004, or 1 of every 2.8 deaths in the United States. Right now, the AHA says, nearly 80 million US adults have CVD and nearly 2,400 will die of the disease each day, an average of 1 death every 36 seconds.

In fact, according to the AHA, CVD is the single largest "killer" of American men and women, claiming more lives each year than cancer, chronic lower respiratory diseases, accidents and diabetes mellitus combined.

Eating the wrong foods, dealing with stress, ignoring critical warning signs associated with cardiovascular diseases, can be the difference between life and death. As doctors of chiropractic, you can help your patients by providing adjustments and by raising awareness of how they can make wise health choices to maximize their heart health.

Kurt W. Donsbach, DC, ND, PhD, a popular nutritionist and health writer, cites several important studies in his booklet, Dr. Donsbach Tells You What You Want to Know about Heart Disease.[2]

One, the Mackinnon study [3] took place in Yorkshire, England, a rural community with a very constant population of 22,000. The study tracks the increase in cardiovascular disease from 1855 through 1985.

***  1855‑1900 ...1 death per year per 22,000 population

***  1900‑1925 ... 5 deaths per year per 22,000 population

***  1925‑1985 ... 35 deaths per year per 22,000 population

In another study, conducted in London about the same time, a Dr. R. Finlayson reviewed hospital records and adjusted his numbers to reflect the number of deaths per 22,000 people. [4] Amazingly, his statistics, using urban residents as compared to a rural population in Yorkshire, were identical. The death rates for the time periods outlined by Mackinnon were within less than a percentile of those found by Finlayson.

Donsbach points out some significant factors which may have affected the death rates. First, machine‑made cigarettes were introduced in the 1880s and about 80% of the male population smoked. In addition, white flour replaced whole wheat flour and nearly everyone who had enough money to purchase bleached flour did so, replacing the more nutritional whole wheat flour.

Those two changes in lifestyle alone may have accounted for the increase from 1 to 5 deaths per 22,000 individuals in the years prior to the 20th century.

Yet, the greatest jump in the death rate took place after 1925, when American homemakers increasingly used oil instead of lard for their cooking and margarine became a substitute for butter.

In the 1950s, "cholesterol mania" was born, Donsbach recalls. As hydrogenated (unsaturated) margarine, shortening and liquid oils (corn, canola, etc.) replaced butter and lard in our diet, deaths from myocardial infarction increased by 3,500%.

In his pamphlet, Donsbach provides his insights into hydrogenation, which involves the process of forcing hydrogen into the oils to form substances known as "trans" fatty acids.

These "trans" fatty acids are real "clinkers" in our metabolism, Donsbach explains. They act to inhibit other very necessary enzymes, which help the body to reduce the "stickiness" of blood platelets. When blood platelets are sticky, they tend to clump together forming clots, which easily plug up an artery already narrowed by plaque accumulation. In 1900, when death from heart attack was literally unknown, these unnatural fatty acids had not yet been introduced to our diet.

Donsbach also outlines how antioxidants in the tocopherol (vitamin E) family are processed out of cooking oils. He states that corn oil, from which the tocopherol has been removed, has been shown to be toxic to the hearts of animals. The damage shows up as small areas of degeneration in the heart muscle. Terence Anderson of the University of British Columbia has conducted research showing that these small degenerated areas in the heart muscle set off the arrhythmias, or erratic heart beat, that are the final step to death from myocardial infarction. [5]

According to Donsbach, another change in food processing occurred in 1936 that may have had a great adverse effect on the death rate from myocardial infarction: the introduction of homogenization of milk.

When a cow produces natural whole milk, a constituent called xanthine oxidase is found. Xanthine oxidase is an oxidizing enzyme and chemically speaking is a rather large particle. The large oxidizing enzyme normally prevents absorption through the intestinal villi, which in turns passes substances from the gut into the blood stream. After homogenization, these smaller particles of xanthine oxidase can pass with ease. Research by Dr. Kurt Oster on xanthine oxidase concluded that it is capable of causing significant harm to the wall of blood vessels and may even initiate the formation of plaque. [6]

Two additional health issues explored by Donsbach may also have a negative impact on the human body: magnesium deficiency caused by the shift from whole grain wheat bread to white bread; and drinking "soft water" as compared to "hard water."

While wheat bread generally offers a reasonably good source of tocopherols or vitamin E, it also normally contains a considerable level of magnesium. White bleached bread on the other hand is generally stripped of this vital mineral.

Additionally, Donsbach notes, studies have shown that heart attacks in American men between the ages of 45 and 64 were significantly higher in states where soft water is prevalent. While there are different degrees of hard water, it is now known that magnesium is one of the trace elements that gives water its hardness and is now recognized as a significant mineral necessary to protect the human heart muscle.

References

1. American Heart Association's "2007 Update on Heart Disease and Stroke Statistics."

2. Dr. Donsbach Tells You What You Want to Know About Heart Disease. Kurt Donsbach, DC, ND, PhD.

3. Mackinnon, AU: J. Royal College of General Practitioners, April 1987, 174‑176.

4. Finlayson, R: "Ischemic heart disease in the city of London 1868‑1982," Medical History, Supplement No. 5, 1985; 141‑168.

5. "Nutritional Muscular Dystrophy and Human Myocardial Infarction." The Lancet, Aug. 11, 1973;298‑302.

6. Oster, K; Oster, J; and Ross, D: "Immune Response to Bovine Xanthine Oxidase in Atherosclerotic Patients," American Laboratory, August, 1974, 41‑47; Oster, K and Ross, D: "The Presence of Ectopic Xanthine Oxidase in Atherosclerotic Plaques and Myocardial Tissues," Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine, 1973; Oster, KA: "Plasmalogen diseases: a new concept of the etiology of the atherosclerotic process." American Journal of Clinical Research 1971:2;30‑35.