Shrinking Vascular Plaque
Gary Huber, DO
Here is a simple equation for you: blood flow is critical to all of my body parts to get nutrition and oxygen. Aging results in reduction of blood vessels, fewer of them and less blood flow through them. As we age, out blood vessels get stiffer and less efficient in their delivery of blood. Plaques begin to form in the wall and choke off our valuable blood supply. Sounds terrible.
So here is an easy solution: lets support our blood vessels, make more of them, open them up wider, and remove the plaque that is in the way. Now that sounds awesome. OK, then lets do that and live longer and healthier. Are you on board?
I discussed in the April Newsletter the importance of the glycocalyx, the special lining of the blood vessels and its ability to produce valuable nitric oxide to dilate blood vessels, protect them from harm, and lower blood pressure. I shared how to do this and its importance. The critical feature is the glycocalyx. Today I want to share some amazing studies that have been going on for more than a decade looking at a specific seaweed extract called fucoidan and another element you have probably heard of called glucosamine.
Fun fact for the day: this valuable vascular element called glycocalyx that protects your blood vessels is made up of 3 primary things: 1. Glucosamine 2. Chondroitin 3. Hyaluronic acid. This are the same 3 things that restore your joint cartilage and keep your joints running smoothly. In fact, in an amazing study that tracked 466,039 people over 7 years, (Ma, Li, et al – 2019)
they wanted to see if taking glucosamine impacted heart attack and stroke rates due to glucosamines support of the blood vessels. Those people taking glucosamine for even just a short period of time experienced a 15% reduction in the occurrence of heart attacks, a 22% reduction in risk of dying from a cardiac event and a 9% reduction in stokes. Glucosamine provides the raw material to help restore the glycocalyx.
So, what if we added some more punching power to this idea? Do you like seaweed? Who doesn’t, right? There is a special element called fucoidan found in brown seaweed that has been studied for years with impressive results. Multiple mouse studies (I won’t bore you with the list) have consistently shown that fucoidan can REVERSE vascular plaque and make blood vessels less stiff. Multiple mechanisms of action have been reported and the results reliably repeated by different scientific groups. Atherosclerotic plaque shrunk and vessels became less stiff and enhanced blood flow. Fucoidan also reduces inflammation and helps prevent diabetes. Fucoidan has been shown to enhance and support healthy gut bacteria which is another pathway to reduce vascular inflammation and risk. Fucoidan was shown to reduce dangerous levels of LDL cholesterol and beyond that it accomplished something that statin drugs can’t do – it increased the level of valuable HDL cholesterol which is protective.
Getting this valuable fucoidan requires it to come from a reliable manufacturer that has a reputation of pharmaceutical grade supplements. I trust Ortho Molecular in this effort and have contracted with them to make it for my patients. We call it VascuCalyx as it attends to vascular health and restore the glycocalyx. For my patients at risk I encourage this combination:
- Nitrates – green leafy + beetroot powder + nitrate capsule (Berkeley) See April Newsletter.
Measure you salivary N.O. level and adjust as needed.
- VascuCalyx – twice per day. Contains Fucoidan + Glucosamine + Hyaluronic acid.
- Grape Seed Extract- twice per day. Grape seed extract restores vascular lining
Of course I strongly recommend that you attend to lifestyle factors like a whole foods diet, lots of vegetables, regular exercise that favors Zone 2 heart rates, meditation and solid sleep. The critical take away here is that 95% of all heart attacks do NOT need to occur. We can easily see the risk using the “Cleerly” technology (see the video on this website) and now we have the tools to reverse that risk. We also offer IV therapies that have been shown to reduce risk and stabilize plaque so there are far too many effective treatments at our disposal to allow any vascular disease to grow. All you have to do is decide that this is important and plug into the natural therapies that has been proven to work. If we can help you in this journey that exactly why we exist. Simply ask and we would be happy to discuss your specifics in detail.
Change your diet,reverse your plaque?
Chelsea Dorsett, RD, LD
"Let food be thy Medicine" You've heard that saying dozens of times before by the father of medicine, Hippocrates. His famous saying sums up several studies that have proven it IS possible to reverse severe coronary atherosclerosis (plaque) without the use of medications. You may have been told before that the plaque you have is irreversible and you'll have to be on a statin (cholesterol lowering medication) the rest of your life. In 1990 Dr. Ornish did a study that showed regression of plaque in ONE year. In the study, 28 patients were assigned to an experimental group that received low-fat vegetarian diet, stopping smoking, stress management training, and moderate exercise. The control group of 20 received usual medical care. There were 195 coronary artery lesions (plaque) analyzed by quantitative coronary angiography, where they squirt dye into the vessel to see and measure plaque volume. Overall, 82% of experimental-group patients had an average change towards regression. Their plaque had shrunk. Comprehensive lifestyle changes showed regression of plaque after only 1 year, without use of statin medications.
In 2015 a large meta-analysis on more than 2,000 arterial plaques showed once again that lifestyle modifications can decrease plaque. These findings give patients hope who want to do more than just take a cholesterol lowering medication. The shocking reality is 50% of people who have a heart attack have a NORMAL cholesterol panel. Statin medications will reduce cholesterol numbers but they are not very successful at stopping heart attacks. In a peer reviewed famous trial of statin therapy, the PARADIGM study (Lee, Chang, et al, 2018) 1,255 people were studied after receiving high dose statin treatment. CT angiograms were done to assess change over time but the vascular plaque continued to increase. There was no evidence of regression. But YOU can drive plaque regression with your diet and lifestyle choices. Dramatic lifestyle changes (exercise, diet and smoking cessation) are critical pieces that need to be implemented to help drive the regression of plaque. I point you to last months newsletter discussing "nitric oxide" as a key variable that only YOU can control and implement.
Don't buy into the fact that "this is just your genetics" or "you can eat whatever you want as long as you take a cholesterol lowering medication." Your body is brilliantly intelligent and has an amazing ability to heal. As Hippocrates said, Let food be thy medicine.
