– Selenium — a compound found in garlic — may be
instrumental to garlic’s anti-cancer properties. (“Cancer
Chemoprevention by Garlic and Garlic-Containing Sulfur and
Selenium Compounds,” by Drs. K. El-Bayoumy and R. Sinha,
Penn. State; Dr. J. Pinto, Cornell-Burke Medical Research
Institute; and Dr. R. Rivlin, Weill Cornell Medical College)
– Garlic may slow the progression of coronary artery
calcification in patients on statin therapy. (“Aged Garlic
Extract Retards Progression of Coronary Artery Disease,” by
Dr. M. Budoff, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center)

– In addition to its cholesterol-lowering potential,
blood-pressure-lowering effects, and antioxidant properties,
garlic may help moderate levels of homocysteine, an amino
acid that is a marker for coronary artery disease.
(“Homocysteine-Lowering Action Is Another Potential
Cardiovascular Protective Factor of Aged Garlic Extract,” by
Drs. Y. Yeh and S. Yeh, Penn. State)

– Garlic may inhibit platelet aggregation — a major
contributing factor to cardiovascular disease — by
suppressing calcium mobilization. (“Aged Garlic Extract May
Inhibit Aggregation in Human Platelets by Suppressing
Calcium Mobilization,” by Drs. G. Allison, G. Lowe, and K.
Rahman, Liverpool John Moores University, U.K.)

– Garlic may reduce pre-cancerous gastric lesions.
(“Factorial Trial Including Garlic Supplements Assesses
Effect in Reducing Precancerous Gastric Lesions,” by Dr. M.
Gail, National Cancer Institute, and Dr. W. You, Beijing
Institute of Cancer Research)

– Garlic may suppress progression of precancerous lesions
of the large bowel. (“Aged Garlic Extract Has Potential
Suppressive Effect on Colorectal Adenomas in Humans,” by
Drs. S. Tanaka, Hiroshima University, Japan; K. Haruma,
Kawasaki Medical School, Japan; M. Yoshihara, Hiroshima
University, Japan; G. Kajiyama, Onomichi General Hospital,
Japan; K. Kira, Wakunaga Pharmaceutical, Japan; H. Amagase,
Wakunaga of America; and K. Chayama, Hiroshima University,
Japan)

(CoQ10) is known to be highly concentrated in
heart muscle cells due to the high energy
requirements of this cell type.

For the past 14 years, the great bulk of clinical
work with CoQ10 has focused on heart disease.
Specifically, congestive heart failure (from a
wide variety of causes) has been strongly
correlated with significantly low blood and tissue
levels of CoQ10 . The severity of heart failure
correlates with the severity of CoQ10 deficiency .
This CoQ10 deficiency may well be a primary
etiologic factor in some types of heart muscle
dysfunction while in others it may be a secondary
phenomenon. Whether primary, secondary or both,
this deficiency of CoQ10 appears to be a major
treatable factor in the otherwise inexorable
progression of heart failure.

Pioneering trials of CoQ10 in heart failure
involved primarily patients with dilated weak
heart muscle of unknown cause (idiopathic dilated
cardiomyopathy). CoQ10 was added to standard
treatments for heart failure such as fluid pills
(diuretics), digitalis preparations (Lanoxin), and
ACE inhibitors. Several trials involved the
comparison between supplemental CoQ10 and placebo
on heart function as measured by echocardiography.
CoQ10 was given orally in divided doses as a dry
tablet chewed with a fat containing food or an oil
based gel cap swallowed at mealtime. Heart
function, as indicated by the fraction of blood
pumped out of the heart with each beat (the
ejection fraction), showed a gradual and sustained
improvement in tempo with a gradual and sustained
improvement in patients’ symptoms of fatigue,
dyspnea, chest pain, and palpitations. The degree
of improvement was occasionally dramatic with some
patients developing a normal heart size and
function on CoQ10 alone. Most of these dramatic
cases were patients who began CoQ10 shortly after
the onset of congestive heart failure. Patients
with more established disease frequently showed
clear improvement but not a return to normal heart
size and function.

Those facts have intrigued scientists ever since
CoQ10 was discovered in 1957. A chemical found in
such abundance in the body, they surmised, must
carry significant healing properties. Because
CoQ10 is such a basic source of energy, some
advocates–doctors, nutritionists, body builders
and cancer researchers–believe it is a miracle
substance. Based on hundreds of studies conducted
around the world, claims have been made that CoQ10
can be used to treat a wide variety of maladies:
heart disease, gum disease, breast cancer,
Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease,
migraines, high blood pressure, infertility in
males, skin diseases, fibromyalgia and more. Some
even claim it can enhance athletic performance.

Top learn more about CoQ10 and Cardiovascular
Health & Heart disease Prevention, listen to
Dr.Anca’s recordings of this tele-seminar:

http://telehealthsecrets.com/rcv

To register for Dr.Anca`s next  FREE Tele-Seminar, visit here:

http://telehealthsecrets.com/teleseminars

Though wearing your heart on your sleeve isn’t usually

considered beneficial, if we could actually do it we would

be able to take a close look at its condition every day.

Head off heart disease by nurturing the most discussed but

least appreciated organ that symbolizes love and caring.

More of us die from broken heart than any other ailment.

Although we know that heart disease is the leading cause of

death in Canadians over 45, few of us have questioned the

conventional ways that we try to combat it. Sure, we’ve been

told about healthy habits to reduce the risks – by losing

weight, reducing red meat consumption and avoiding stress.

But physicians continue to prescribe cholesterol-lowering

(statin) drugs, calcium beta-blockers and high blood

pressure medications to millions of Canadians, with side

effects that outweigh benefits.

But there are more natural and sensible ways to strengthen

our heart. In fact, one of the greatest scientific minds of

the 20th century, Linus Pauling, Ph.D., said that doctors

have got it all wrong.

Every year half a million people die from coronary heart

disease.  In a recentCNN article discussing a new study

based on the data from the Framingham study concludes: The

study “reaffirms the notion that coronary heart disease is

the 800-pound gorilla of disease in this country, now and

for the foreseeable future,” says cardiologist Dr. Stuart

Seides.   Heart attacks were virtually unknown before the

turn of the century.  Our diets, especially in “developed”

countries have gone through dramatic changes in this period.

 There is a very real connection between this new disease

and our new diets.

Dr. Pauling, a two-time Nobel Prize Laureate and recipient

of over 40 honourary degrees,  stressed that it isn’t

cholesterol or even fatty foods that cause heart troubles;

he was convinced it is caused by malnutrition. Instead of

medications, Dr. Pauling believed strongly in curing heart

disease with vitamin supplements. But even though millions

of lives could be saved  annually by simply taking a few

common, inexpensive vitamins, the medical industry would

have little incentive to prescribe them.

Linus Pauling himself ingested 18,000 mg daily of vitamin C

daily in order to approximate the tissue levels of an

 animal of his body weight.

The few species which include humans, that do

not make their own vitamin C suffer a condition called

atherosclerosis, where white plaques narrow the arteries.

 This disease has been misnamed

“heart disease” because it often leads to a heart

attack. The disease is not prevalent in species that

 make their own Vitamin C

Vitamin C is required for tissue integrity.  Tissues that

are under constant stress are particularly vulnerable to

degradation from C deficiency.  This is certainly true of

our arteries.

Shortly before his death at 93, Linus Pauling and Matthias

Rath had completed work on the link between atherosclerosis

and Vitamin C (please see the link in the side bar).  They

had concluded that chronic Vitamin C deficiency lead to a

serious compromising of our arterial system.  Our bodies

respond to this situation with a healing process.

According to Pauling, vitamin C prevents illness due to its

role in manufacturing collagen, the protein that helps make

the walls of blood vessels. He was convinced that vitamin C

can help prevent cardiovascular disease by reversing damage

done to blood vessels. Vitamin C’s link to healthy  blood

vessels is supported by scurvy studies. It causes collagen

breakdown, resulting in ruptured blood vessels, so victims

bleed to death.

A great misfortune of human evolution, Dr. Pauling stated,

was when our ancestors’ bodies lost their ability to

manufacture vitamin C , discarded when we had a steady

supply of fresh-picked fruits and vegetables. Ever since

humans migrated away from the tropics, we’ve suffered

deficiencies (vitamin C begins to quickly deteriorate as

soon as fruits and veggies are picked.

When arteries are compromised, our systems produce a

specialized, sticky form of low-density lipoprotein- called

Lp(a) which attaches itself to the arterial wall to prevent

blood seepage.  This is consistent with where arterial

plaque is found – where there are lesions and where there is

particular stress (i.e. at branches, in arteries, not veins,

due to the pressure and in coronary arteries due to the

stress of the constant motion).

Heart disease is a misnomer because there is no

malfunction of the heart. The underlying disease process is

characterized

by scab-like build-ups that adhere to the walls of blood

vessels. As thearteries narrow, the blood supply to the

 heart and the other organs is reduced, resulting in

 angina (“heart cramp”), heart attack and/or stroke.

The more correct terminology is chronic scurvy, a sub

clinical (difficult to detect) form of the classic

vitamin C deficiency disease scurvy.

In this lectures, Pauling discussed vitamin C’s connection

with lipoprotein (a), a substance linked to cardiovascular

disease and a major part of plaque found in blood vessels of

atherosclerosis patients. Certain fats in the blood have the

ability to plug the leaks caused by lack of vitamin C by

forming a kind of plaster (plaque). These are cholesterol,

lipids, and lipoprotein (a). He claimed that lipoprotein (a)

tries to strengthen blood vessels walls by coating them if

there isn’t adequate vitamin C in the diet. He felt

lipoprotein (a) was more of a factor in heart disease than

cholesterol, which is a secondary tool used by the body to

coat the cracks and fissures in the walls. This sticky

cholesterol is a special kind of cholesterol made in our

livers and not the cholesterol we get from fatty foods.

Again, all plaque in the arteries is laid down as temporary

repair material for damaged blood vessels. This happens only

when the body is malnourished. The coating, however, narrows

arteries, eventually causing blockages – and heart attacks

and strokes. None of today’s heart drugs lower lipoprotein

(a) levels.

Dr. Pauling created a formula for halting these effects.

His therapy included megadoses of vitamin C, of course, but

it also included supportive B vitamins including vitamin B3

(niacin) which also lowers lipoprotein (a), and vitamin B6,

B12, and folic acid. Key amino acids l-Lysine and L-proline,

vitamin A and E, magnesium, selenium and omega-3 oils were

also added. He was adamant that this simple formula could

stop and even reverse the majority of cardiovascular disease

cases. He practiced what he preached, gradually increasing

his daily dose of vitamin C to 18 grams.

What does vitamin C do? It increases  HDL (high density

lipoprotein), or good cholesterol, and decreases lipoprotein

(a), cholesterol and triglyceride production. It is also

thought to lower blood sugar and insulin requirements. By

relaxing the blood vessel walls, it lowers blood pressure

when hypertension is present, and it stops inappropriate

clot formation, which is often the final cause of heart

attacks and strokes.

When Pauling died in 1994, he knew that cardiovascular

disease would continue to rise in epidemic proportions. In

the US and Canada, every other person will die of heart

disease. Each year, $ 100 billion is spent on surgery and

medications for vascular heart disease in the US. The bottom

line is that lipoprotein (a) levels, which are rarely

checked by doctors, may be the real risk factor in

cardiovascular disease only because this fat is trying hard

to repair damage done by eating too little of what we need.

Your heart works 24 hours a day with no breaks. It can be

difficult to get enough nutrients from your diet for this

hard –working organ. Supplement with vitamin C and other

nutrients- they’re your body’s major line of defence against

heart troubles.

To learn more about cardiovascular health, listen to Dr.Anca’s Cardiovascular Health & Heart disease Prevention Tele-seminar recordings.

When it comes to heart health, it’s clear that women underestimate their personal risk and think that heart disease is more likely seen in men. But, the number one killer for women is cardiovascular disease (CVD). Starting at age 75, the prevalence of heart disease is higher in women than men.

Risk factors

These can be broken down to non-modifiable or modifiable risk factors:

Non- modifiable risk factors: more than 55 years old, post-menopause, and family history of premature heart disease.

Modifiable risk factors: medical screening; lifestyle changes and medical intervention, when required, make a difference. These include hypertension, high LDL cholesterol (the bad cholesterol), low HDL cholesterol (the good cholesterol), smoking, sedentary lifestyle, obesity (BMI more than 30), high fat diet and diabetes.

Symptoms

It’s important for women to know that the characteristic image of a ‘fist clutching at chest’ pain is not the common symptom for women. As many as 58 % of women with angina experience dyspnea or shortness of breath, rather than the classic squeezing chest pain that radiates down the left arm. Other symptoms for women include: weakness 55 %; fatigue 43 %; cold sweat 39 %; dizziness 39 %; nausea 35%; heavy arm 35 %; and aches in arms 32 %.

What can women do?

1.       Be a non-smoker.

2.       Exercise a minimum of 30 minutes daily at least 5 days a week.

3.       Follow a heart healthy diet.

4.       Maintain a healthy BMI.

Being a non- smoker can reduce the risk of stroke by 81 %. Regular exercise can lead to an 83% reduction in CVD death. A healthy diet and BMI within target can lessen the chance of developing diabetes by 90 %, a potent risk factor for CVD.

Only 75% of women are aware of their blood pressure diagnosis and of those with the diagnosis, less than one third are treated adequately. With a minimal decrease of 6 mm in blood pressure, there’s a 21% decrease in heart disease, a 42 % decrease in stroke and a 14 % decrease in acute myocardial infarction (heart attack).

Treatment choices

The first thing I tell women in my practice, “Treatment choice is yours to make. And, lifestyle intervention is the proactive key.”

Ladies: at your regular yearly check up, make sure your blood pressure is recorded and your blood cholesterol, fasting blood glucose and an ECG are done. Know the role of your family history as a risk factor. Review with your physician what can be done to reduce and eliminate your risk of this number one killer. Your doctor will tell you how often to return for follow up.

Remember – the control of most of the risk factors is in your hands and it’s never too late to take charge!

To learn more about Cardiovascular disease and Heart disease Prevention, listen to my CARDIOVASCULAR Health & HEART Disease Prevention Tele-Seminar: 

It’s TONIGHT, Feb.26…but if this is too short notice for you, register anyway and you’ll receive the recordings asap.

Drinking green tea can help protect against cardiovascular disease by reducing

cholesterol levels, new research suggests. In one study involving 29 subjects,

 participants drank 1 L of water daily for three weeks, then 1 L of green tea daily

 for four weeks. After drinking green tea each day, the subjects’ blood cholesterol has dropped significantly, particularly LDL (“bad”) cholesterol, while HDL (“good”)

cholesterol levels increased. The researchers concluded that “drinking green tea has a beneficial effects protecting against the risk for cardiovascular disease by  improving blood lipid levels.

Japanese and Taiwanese researchers in another study found that drinking a cup of polyphenol-enriched oolong tea with a high fat meal may increase the amount of

cholesterol excreted by the body by half. Oolong is a traditional Chinese tea,

midway between green and black tea in terms of its oxidation levels.

 The scientist randomly divided 12 healthy adults into two groups, one of which

 received  38 g of fat from potato chips 19 g within 30 minutes of eating lunch

 and dinner) and 750 ml  of a placebo or polyphenol-enriched oolong tea at 3 meals

 per day. A seven-day washout period separated the 10-day test periods.

Drinking green tea may protect against heart disease by improving cholesterol status.

After analyzing periodic blood and fecal samples, researchers found that the

 polyphenol-enriched oolong tea period was associated with a 50% increase in

cholesterol excretion.

Larger studies are needed, as is research into how polyphenols reduce fat absorption.

To learn more about cardio-vascular disease and heart disease prevention, register to my upcoming Tele-seminar,

CARDIOVASCULAR Health & HEART Disease Prevention

 If you’ve been looking for an excuse to hit that vending

machine and grab a candy bar which  has chocolate in

it….now it’s actually healthy, chocolate? Hurray! WRONG.

 Well, mostly wrong: what’s healthy is the cacao bean,

minimally processed. This amazing, hedonistic bean is one of

the world’s longest-revered foods (think ‘time of the

Aztecs’ old) and has in recent years been shown to be a

veritable powerhouse of cognitive enhancement, mood and

bliss-enhancement (thanks in part to the Theobromine in

cacao), antioxidants, flavonoids, catechins and many other

brain & body-enhancing elements. In fact, chocolate has been

very recently cited by some top health professionals and

researchers to be THE single most exciting health food, and

as more research continues to pour in, the more true this

appears to be.

How is this possible, something that only recently was

thought of as an unhealthy, dangerous, guilty indulgence…a

sign of dietary decadence, now being hailed as beneficial to

everything from brain health to skin elasticity to

cardiovascular health to anti-cancer and pretty much

everything in between?

It’s simple: chocolate does not equal cacao bean, nor

vice-versa; most candy and chocolate bars contain not only

low levels of cacao bean compared to other unhealthy

ingredients such as sugars, milk fat, artificial flavorings

and so on, but the quality and processing of the cacao used

in these products is often of low health benefits due to

everything from alkalization (e.g. “Dutch process cocoa”) to

refining and processing and over-roasting the healthy

elements right out of the beans.

So if you want the real stuff, the best bet is to either

use 100% organic non-alkalized cocoa powder from a

high-quality maker who minimally processes the cocoa to

ensure that the health properties are retained, or, second

best, choose only high cacao percentage dark chocolate bars

(typically at least 75% cacao content or higher, but we

suggest 85% or higher), also from a high-quality provider.

And, of course, a small piece only!…but that’s much

easier to control thwn with milk chocolate…

We’ve found it easiest to just mix a large spoonful of 100%

organic cocoa powder with a bit of espresso, organic

 unsweetened soy milk and some cinnamon,

even a sprinkle of cayenne red pepper…yes, cayenne

pepper!) in the morning (and sometimes again in the

afternoon) to make a drink not unlike what the ancient

Aztecs used to make: it’s one tasty, brain & body-fueling

drink that gives you your pure cacao bean dose without the

sugars and milk fat, you get your protein from the soy milk,

brain-enhancing (and blood sugar-stabilizing) cinnamon, a

little brain-enhancing caffeine from the espresso and

theobromine (plus more) from the chocolate, and a digestion,

brain-enhancing and respiratory-enhancing kick from the

cayenne pepper. No sweetener needed (sweet is overrated

these days…but we’ll save that topic for another

BrainReady feature).

In summary, yes: chocolate is a brain health food. Or more

specifically, the cacao bean is a true brain health and body

health food. And worth considering adding to your diet

(barring any allergies to chocolate or contraindications, of

course).