Over the Counter Natural Cures (9 page)

When the delivery of oxygen and nutrients is disturbed, collagen tangling occurs. It's like suffocation in slow motion. But your body works to correct this. Using a complex chemical cascade, dietary vitamin C (from acerola) replenishes and repairs tangled collagen. But this protection doesn't last forever. If the tangling goes unchecked, rampant inflammation occurs.

Some people call inflammation “plaque” because of its hardened nature. The name “atherosclerosis” (sometimes used in place of heart disease) was derived from that concept of hardening. The term combines two Greek words,
athere
(porridge) and
sclerosis
(hardening). In reality, atherosclerosis is merely Nature's Band-Aid.

Atherosclerosis is not a death sentence. Nature's Band-Aid does not become so inflamed and swollen that it shrinks the bloodstream to a pinpoint. You can take vitamin C to protect against collagen entanglement, but healthy arteries have the ability to accommodate for inflammation by “relaxing,” or dilating. This ensures that blood flow continues without interruption. This protection is primarily dependent on the short-lived molecule known as nitric oxide, or NO.

Robert F. Furchgott, PhD, Louis J. Ignarro, PhD, and Ferid Murad, MD, PhD, received the Nobel Prize for the paramount discovery concerning nitric oxide. Supplementation with L-arginine and
grape-seed extract can help ensure the healthy production of NO, and the subsequent relaxing and dilation of arteries when needed.

Most heart attacks and strokes occur when Nature's Band-Aid ruptures. The rupturing triggers the emergence of a blood clot (thrombus). The combination of narrow arteries and a blood clot completes the blockage. This prevents blood from reaching downstream to the heart or brain, or both. This condition is known as “ischemia.” A heart attack or stroke is the outcome when the heart or brain is deprived of blood and oxygen.

STOPPING THE NUMBER-ONE ARTERY BUTCHER

The entire cycle leading to premature heart attack and stroke can be prevented—or at least slowed. To do this, you need to reduce or eliminate the artery butchers from the blood. Smokers can start now by tossing the cigarette. The next place to start is by avoiding large amounts of homocysteine. Outside of quitting smoking, that is the best place to start.

Homocysteine is a natural by-product of amino acid metabolism in the body. Among healthy individuals, it's quickly processed into harmless methionine. But if homocysteine isn't biochemically converted, it floats in the bloodstream and wreaks havoc on the cardiovascular system.

Famed chemist Kilmer McCully, MD, made the homocysteine and heart disease connection in the early 1990s while at Harvard. He found that homocysteine had a high affinity for collagen, a key component of arteries. In excess (greater than 16 μmol/l), homocysteine “sinks its claws” into coronary arteries. As time passes, it can set off the entire heart-disease cascade, eventually culminating in the formation of Nature's Band-Aid, inflammation.

Mckully's remedy was readily accessible folic acid. He found that folic acid declaws homocysteine by converting it into harmless methionine. He was all but shunned by peers who held tight to the cholesterol
hypothesis. But today, some key studies have confirmed his findings, while the cholesterol hypothesis is becoming a mainstream pastime.

In 2006, the
Journal of the American College of Cardiology
highlighted a review of all previous studies done on homocysteine levels and risk for heart disease. Their conclusion was that a “plethora of studies” demonstrate “plausible mechanisms” that implicate elevated homocysteine in promoting heart disease, leading to attack and stroke.
⁵⁵

Harvard researchers writing in the
Journal of the American Medical
Association
stated that women could cut their risk of heart disease by
half with daily consumption of 500 milligrams of folic acid and other B vitamins. Men can expect to have the same benefit.
⁵⁶

Other researchers evaluated homocysteine studies recently in the
British Medical Journal
. In their review of the clinical trials involving
folic acid and the lowering of homocysteine, they showed that even a small 3 μmol/l drop in homocysteine (achievable with 0.8 milligrams a day of folic acid) lowers the risk of myocardial infarction by 15 percent and stroke by 24 percent. Their powerful conclusion: “We therefore take the view that the evidence is now sufficient to justify action on lowering homocysteine concentrations.”
⁵⁷

Another study done, performed in China, gives more evidence of folic acids benefits. The researchers found that men who took a multivitamin with folic acid and other B-vitamins daily were 60 percent less likely to die of stroke.
⁵⁸

To this day, McCully's findings show that the simple act of ensuring folic acid intake may ward off heart disease. But that's not as easy to achieve as you might think. Many of us take part in lifestyle habits that can lead to folic-acid deficiency.

There are three main reasons that you might have increased levels of homocysteine or be deficient in folic acid: you're not eating your folic
acid–rich spinach and leafy vegetables; you're drinking too much folic acid–depleting wine, or you are swallowing folic acid–depleting drugs like over-the-counter pain relievers, birth control pills, antipsychotics, anticonvulsants, or antidiabetic meds. Taking part in any of these habits makes proper folic-acid supplementation (at least 400 micrograms per day from natural sources that also include vitamin B12) essential for keeping homocysteine levels low and heart disease at bay.

That heart disease is the result of a nutrient deficiency is modern medicine's biggest dilemma. Despite the rampant increase in heart attack and stroke, the drug industry is powerless in helping the world overcome the pandemic—outside of emergency medicine, of course. This is the primary reason that many doctors aren't talking about homocysteine. They simply don't have a drug to treat it. But Whole Foods does.

THE OVER-THE-COUNTER NATURAL CURE TO ARTERY BUTCHERS

If you shop at Whole Paycheck (Whole Foods) or any other organic grocery store, lowering homocysteine is easy. Buy folic acid. But you'll want to choose your source with unusual care. Not all are created equal. While one source can be lifesaving, the other might threaten it.

Folic acid is usually purchased in pill form. These supplements can be bought for as low as 0.24 cents per month. But you'll be paying for a synthetic copycat, a Franken-Chemical of sorts. In 1941, the chemical manufacturer American Cyanamid (now a division of Wyeth pharmaceuticals) learned to make a version of folic acid in their lab to profit from the growing deficiency. Ever since, pharmaceutical sleight of hand has replaced the food source folic acid with its chemical cousin, which is proving inferior. The difference is stark, as can be seen by increased cancer rates among populations being force fed the Franken-Chemical
via fortification programs (dumping the copycat into every day foods like cereals and grains).
⁵⁹

The forgotten source of nutritive folic acid is brewer's yeast, sometimes called nutritional yeast. In 1931, it was discovered to be a potent cure to anemia. The high content of folic acid proved to be one of the corrective sources. But over time, it's been learned that the true benefits of the acid come from the entire spectrum of supporting nutrients (like vitamin B12, selenium, and more), which together make up an infinite amount of complex and dynamic, healthy responses in the body. Today, brewer's yeast is also the best way to adhere to nutrient logic for declawing artery butchers like homocysteine.

Monthly cost will range from $7 to $20. Lewis Labs sells a 100 percent natural brewer's yeast at Whole Foods and many other organic grocers. Manufactured under FDA-approved good manufacturing practices, Lewis Labs brewer's yeast has no additives, adulterants, or excess fillers, based on my independent lab analysis. This can be verified with the certificate of analysis found at my website, www.overthecounternaturalcures.com

The best time to take folic acid is with a meal. This is a simple step to ensure that your body uses folic acid to lower homocysteine. Conversely, if you are taking high doses of folic acid–depleting drugs, you are negating the benefits of its supplementation. While folic acid may be plentiful in the bloodstream, drugs like aspirin and ibuprofen prevent it from being used once delivered.

Not much to worry about in the way of nutritive folic acid toxicity. Unlike with statins, you won't have to undergo any scary “enzyme tests” to measure whether or not you're being accidentally poisoned. While the toxicity of statins leads to liver failure, as seen by the spilling of various enzymes into the blood, food-source folic acid is about as toxic as water.

MIKE RECOVERS, AND SO CAN YOU

Abstaining from statins and supplementing folic acid, Mike instantly felt better. I was quick to remind him that folic acid wasn't the silver bullet for heart disease. There are plenty of other artery butchers to watch out for, such as excess sugar and even foreign bacteria and viruses. To ensure total cardiovascular health, he combined his daily intake with two to five teaspoons of acerola (I recommend Now Foods 4:1 Extract Powder) to ensure adequate vitamin C and followed the simple lifestyle habits discussed in chapter 11.

As his cholesterol rose back to natural, healthier levels, Mike was reminded of what being healthy felt like. Mornings were met with vibrant energy and mental clarity. His muscles began to reemerge and, thanks to getting his libido back, he started chasing his wife around the bedroom. He also felt good knowing that, as an added benefit of taking folic acid, he was preventing depression and cancer—a welcome side effect of nutritive folic acid use. Today, despite having a total cholesterol level of well over 200, Mike is in the best shape of his life, with no signs of the inflammation of heart disease!

Think twice about cholesterol-lowering drugs. Otherwise, face the outcomes of proven side effects.

 

 

 CHAPTER 4 

Anti-clotting drugs and hypertension meds (referred to here as cardiovascular drugs) are marvels of modern medicine. In times of emergency, they have served as miracle workers by rescuing millions of lives from the grips of sudden heart attack and stroke.

Witnessing the miracles, Big Pharma and doctors have enthusiastically begun to treat cardiovascular drugs as vitamins—dishing them out for daily use among the middle-aged and elderly. Under this enthusiasm simmers a cold, hard fact: cardiovascular drugs are not vitamins. And treating them as such can lead to grim outcomes.

Fortunately, there's a safe alternative that doesn't require a prescription or health insurance. This forgotten cardiovascular cure contains a cocktail of naturally occurring medicines that can bust clots, control blood pressure, and at the same time, strengthen the heart.

THE GRANDMA JOYCE CALAMITY

Grandma Joyce loved her independence. At seventy-two years old, she was proud to be able to take care of herself. Running errands, baby-sitting
her grandkids, and even going to the gym three times per week were a joy. Her peers envied her vibrant energy and health. But, that didn't last.

Six weeks before Christmas, Joyce visited her family doctor for a routine visit. Before even asking how she was doing, he flipped through her charts and suggested that she start taking the anticlotting medicine Plavix (clopidogrel bisulfate) daily. Joyce resisted and questioned his motives. He insisted that it would help to prevent heart attack and stroke, and then reassured her by stating that even his own mom was taking Plavix—so much for scientific-based assertions.

Within about four weeks, Joyce suddenly began bruising, passing blood, and coughing it up. At the emergency room, doctors told her family that she was “bleeding out” and that all attempts to stop it had failed. The bleeding was discovered at the emergency room at 10:15 a.m. Joyce passed away at 9:30 p.m. that same day. Her three-year-old granddaughter later wondered hysterically, “Why isn't Nana here for Christmas?”