Why exercise protects your heart….

Today's Post: Monday, 8-31-2009

In an article titled, “Exercise beats angioplasty for some heart patients” that I read today that was posted yesterday, AP Medical Writer, Maria Cheng, describes research published in 2004 by Rainer Hambrecht that found that “nearly 90 percent of heart patients who rode bikes regularly were free of heart problems one year after they started” doing so while for patients who only “had an angioplasty instead, only 70 percent were problem-free after a year.”

Hambrecht is now doing another study to confirm that for some heart patients they might do better to exercise than get an angioplasty.

Other experts were quoted as saying they expect he will succeed.

One expert points out that angioplasty only helps the treated blood vessel while exercise may open up several blood vessels.

Then this summary of other known benefits of exercise to the heart jumped out at me.:

“Among other benefits, exercise lowers bad cholesterol while raising good cholesterol, helps the body process sugar better, improves the lining of the blood vessels and gets rid of waste material faster. Exercise also lowers blood pressure and prevents plaque buildup in the arteries.”

Exercise literally and directly reduces the small sized particles of LDL cholesterol that tend to build up as plaque which shows up in an increased HDL reading and a decreased triglyceride reading. And, exercise also tends to lower inflammation which also has been found to reduce heart attack risks.

Exercise also reduces depression so people who do it are more likely to continue to take action to protect their health.

And, exercise, particularly vigorous exercise such as brisk walking, interval cardio, and strength training, tends to lower excess blood sugar and insulin and prevent or help reverse insulin resistance.

These benefits are powerful enough that previous research suggests that two and a half hours total of brisk walking every week would eliminate a third of all heart attacks and strokes.

A Swedish professor said that two thirds of people who get angioplasties now would likely get better results from exercise alone.

He also points out that since exercise removes the cause while angioplasties just temporarily remove the damage, people who exercise not only tend to get better results, they are much more likely to stay well.

The article quotes doctors as saying that they have found exercise a tough sell because it may take several months of exercise to get to good symptom relief while the angioplasty takes one day. Plus some people are either unwilling or feel too time pressured to make time for exercise.

However, this article misses five extremely important points.

1. The death rate from undergoing an angioplasty is not high. BUT, there IS a death rate.

2. Angioplasties cost a LOT of money to do.

3. For someone who has symptoms they want to get rid of NOW because their symptoms are painful or limiting, while it may make good sense for such people to get an angioplasty, based on these findings, they would be very well advised to exercise too.

4. Eating enough better to begin to assist exercise in healing your heart also works and would enable both people who get angioplasties and those who don’t get better results.

(Trans fats and any hydrogenated vegetable oils literally and directly increases the small sized particles of LDL cholesterol that tend to build up as plaque. Putting a screeching halt to ingesting this stuff can help a lot. Slashing amounts of corn oil and other high omega 6 oils while adding omega 3 oils, through supplements if necessary helps. Slashing amounts of sugar, high fructose corn syrup, and refined grain foods helps. Slashing amounts and frequencies for eating fatty meats from grain fed animals by eating them less often and trimming all the fat or eating meat from animals fed only grass can help. Consuming nonfat and lowfat dairy while slashing the amount of butter, cream, and full fat cheese and milk can help. Using olive oil almost exclusively to replace oils high in omega 6 and butter can help.

Eating a lot of nonstarchy vegetables each day also works by protecting your health generally and helping to remove or prevent excess body fat. In addition, the soluble fiber and sterols in vegetables tend to clear excess LDL cholesterol out of your blood.)

5. Taking the right supplements and for some people, taking the right drugs, can assist in healing your heart also and would enable both people who get angioplasties and those who don’t get better results.

(Niacin is almost as valuable as exercise since it increases HDL, lowers LDL, and lowers triglycerides. Unlike taking statin drugs, taking niacin has been found to lower death rates significantly. However, in amounts over 1,000 mg a day, niacin can cause liver problems similar to those statins cause. So 600 to 900 mg a day of niacin is safer for most people than higher amounts and, for higher amounts, you would be very well advised to work with your doctor and get regular liver function tests. Whole foods carries real niacin in 300 mg tablets at very reasonable prices.

Sterol supplements are quite effective in lowering LDL and have no side effects whatever that I’ve heard of. Beta sitosterol is one common sterol. And Natrol makes a very inexpensive beta sitosterol supplement called Cholesterol Balance.

Omega 3 supplements from purified fish oils lower inflammation and triglycerides.

Vitamin K2 supplements may cut the rate of calcium build up in the plaque in your arteries by up to 50% I just read. Since the amount of calcium in your artery plaque has been found to be unusually predictive of heart attack risk that’s quite important. Even 100 mcg a day of supplementation with K2 may do the job.

And, I’ve also read that taking deodorized garlic, taking 1500 mg a day or more of vitamin C, and taking 1500 mg a day or more of vitamin C plus 500 mg of lysine and 500 mg a day of proline each tend to both prevent build up of artery plaque and may help reverse it.)

So, the bottom line is that if you have modest heart symptoms you may recover just fine by doing regular exercise, eating right, and taking the right supplements even without getting an angioplasty. That will save the cost and death rate risk of getting an angioplasty.

And, if you have more severe blockage or painful or limiting symptoms and get an angioplasty, you’ll get MUCH better and more permanent results if you also begin by doing regular exercise, eating right, and taking the right supplements.