Concerned About Your Heart Health? There’s A Fix For That…

 

Worried about heart health?

If you’re over 40, cardiovascular health needs to be on your radar.

With our mainstream Western diets, increased sitting time, and added daily stress, our cardiovascular systems have to work harder to pump blood and vital oxygen to every part and cell in our body.

But almost everything that you know about what puts you at a much higher risk of cardiovascular disease is – most likely – not accurate.

So today, we’re going to help educate you on how you can more easily steer clear of heart disease.

Our heart beats approximately 100,000 times a day, and pumps nearly 2,000 gallons of blood throughout your body every 24 hours, that’s a lot of work and its 24/7/365, all day, everyday.

For millions of people heart disease is a real, and significant threat.

Some current stats of cardiovascular disease:

• 17.5 million people die from cardiovascular disease each year.
• 65.6 million Americans have at least one type of cardiovascular disease .
• 970 million people worldwide have some form of cardiovascular disease .
• About 610,000 people die of heart disease in the United States every year – that’s 1 in every 4 deaths.
• Every year about 735,000 Americans have a heart attack.
• World-Wide, 63,000 people die every day from a heart attack.
• 1 out of every 3 women will die of Heart Disease.
• Every 53 seconds someone in the United States has a stroke.
• Every 180 seconds someone in North America will die of a stroke.
• 15 million people worldwide suffer a Stroke & 6 million people die from stroke,
• 5 million people are left permanently disabled by strokes.
• 100 Million people have a silent stroke each year.

The alarming list of statistics can go on and on.

But with cardiovascular disease being a cause of so many premature deaths worldwide, it makes managing heart & overall cardiovascular health a pressing issue for men and women of all ages.

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So What’s Really Drives Heart Disease?

It all starts with your arteries, which are the large blood vessels that carry oxygen-rich blood throughout your body, including your heart.

Arteries also carry cholesterol which are large and small fat-blobs (lipids).

Arteries and blood vessels are found throughout the body, from your brain to the tips of your toes, and along with your veins and heart, make up your circulatory system.

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Healthy Arteries Versus Unhealthy Arteries

Healthy arteries typically have smooth inner walls, and no plaque build up, as such, blood and fat particles flow through them easily.

But over time many people develop clogged arteries.

Clogged arteries result from a build up of a substance called “plaque” just behind the inner walls of the arteries, creating blockages.

Built up arterial plaque then reduces blood flow, and in some instances, blocks it altogether or ruptures creating a true life threating acute emergency.

Most people think that plaque is made from fatty clumps (cholesterol) gathering and pilling up, creating actual blockages in the arteries.

As with most things, it’s not that simple.

Heart disease is mainly caused by complex deposits of fats (cholesterol), calcium, and cellular waste behind the thin wall surrounding the artery known as the “endothelium“.

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What’s The Endothelium?

The endothelium is a wall of cells made up of individual “epithelial” cells that surround the hollow tunnel with your arteries.

The endothelium is very important to our health.

When the endothelium is functioning well, it acts as a true smart wall keeping oxygen, fats, nutrients and other stuff flowing through the blood stream, all the while preventing certain compounds from entering other parts of our body.

The endothelium also allow wastes from surrounding tissues to enter the blood stream to then be removed by the system.

The endothelium also manages the proper dilation and constriction of the blood vessels. 

Endothelial “tone” (the balance between dilation and constriction) also largely determines a person’s blood pressure, and how much work the heart must do to pump blood throughout the body. 

In addition, the endothelium also:

• Protects surrounding tissues from various toxic substances in the blood stream.
• Regulates the blood clotting mechanism.
• Controls which fluids and substances can pass back and forth between the blood stream and tissues.
• Balances liquids helping to regulate swelling in the tissues.

The endothelium acts just like a cell membrane (a smart wall) but for the entire cardiovascular system. 

Simply stated, the proper functioning of the endothelium is critical for the normal function of the body’s tissues and organs.

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How Does Plaque Build Up Begin?

When there is a tear or scaring across the endothelium, tears and gaps can form, allowing cholesterol and calcium to enter behind it and form deposits.

The immune system senses these tears and then goes to work, and in many cases, actually makes it worse by sending in macrophage cells to scavenge any materials damaging the endothelium.

 

Once these macrophages suck up the cholesterol, they become what’s known as “foam cells” due to their now ‘foamy’ appearance, and when these cells die off, they begin to accumulate, making the build up worse.

 

Endothelial swelling may also be accompanied by the formation of scar tissue.

These areas of scar tissue make the vessel walls less elastic, with one consequence being an increase in blood pressure.

Thick plaques can grow, significantly decreasing the flow of blood to vascular beds in tissues served by the artery, thereby causing severe tissue damage.

In addition,  the endothelium may result in the formation of a blood clot (thrombus) at the site of a plaque, likewise obstructing the channel or breaking loose from the site and causing a catastrophic blockage.

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So Is It Really All About Cholesterol?

Your body knows how vital cholesterol is. In fact, the liver controls our cholesterol needs and will make attempts to manufacture cholesterol if you don’t take in adequate cholesterol through your diet.

So in fact, cholesterol is your friend, and is not really your enemy. Yet, cholesterol has been heavily vilified for years.

What Cholesterol Actually Does:

• Most hormones are made up of cholesterol molecules.
• Cholesterol is vital to cell function, inter-cell communication, & the development & maintenance of the cell membrane.
• Cholesterol is critical for brain and nerve function by helping form neurotransmitters and the myelin sheath that covers and protects your neurotransmitters. The myelin sheath is also critical for the proper ‘firing’ of nerve impulses.
• Cholesterol is also necessary for the synthesis of vitamin D3 from sunlight.
• Cholesterol is critical in the production of bile, which aids in digestion by breaking down fats, absorbing fat-soluble vitamins, and helping to eliminate waste products.

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So Is Cholesterol Really The Culprit?

Many people have what appears to be an advantageous cholesterol risk profile (low LDL, high HDL) yet still have heart attacks and strokes. Some call these people ‘fit but fat’.

On the other hand, we all know people who have terrible lifestyle habits and poor cholesterol levels, but who still don’t have any adverse effects. Some call these people ‘fat but fit’.

What the science now tells us is that cholesterol in NOT THE KEY. The most important parts of heart and arterial health are much more likely to be calcium build up, arterial hardening & overall endothelial health.

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Leading Doctors Are Starting To Get It…

“The common “good” and “bad” cholesterol is a myth and is simply not true” says Dr. Lance E. Sullenberger, a board-certified cardiac physician.

We’ve all heard over the course of the last several decades that one’s cholesterol level predicts their risk of heart attack and stroke – but that is simply not the case.

“Patients frequently ask me, ‘How could I have heart disease – my cholesterol level is normal?’ or report to me, ‘I don’t have to worry because my good cholesterol is high’. As a cardiologist, I have both bad and good news: Your cholesterol level does not matter!” says Dr. Sullenberger.

It’s in fact the calcium deposits inside the arteries that build up behind the endothelium that act like magnets latching onto fat / cholesterol particles that flow through your arteries.

“It’s simple… Calcification of the arteries leads to heart attack and cardiovascular disease.”

Carolyn Dean, MD, ND, Medical Advisory Board 

More and more studies continue to support this.

The best way to truly understand cardiovascular risk is to determine risk with an imaging study called a Coronary Calcium Scan (CCS).

A CCS is a non-contrast, low-radiation, CT scan of the heart which takes about just a few minutes to complete.

The heart scan is then reviewed for evidence of calcium within the arteries and heart.

Using a standardized software, the amount of calcified plaque is scored by an automated process. The result of the test is usually given as a number called an “Agatston score“. 

• A score of zero means no calcium is seen in the arteries or heart. It suggests a very low chance of having a heart attack in the future.
• When calcium is present, the higher the amount of calcium found, the higher your Agatston score is, & the higher your risk of a negative heart incident is.
• A score of 100 to 300 means moderate calcium & plaque deposits. It’s associated with an intermediate risk of heart attack over the next three to five years.
• A score greater than 300 is a sign of very high-to-severe risk.

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So Is The Real Bad Guy Calcification?

It would sure seem to be the case…

Between calcium build up and overall endothelial health, you have your top 2 targets to help optimize good heart health.

In fact, tens of thousands of patients with different calcium scores have been followed for years under various studies, and the coronary calcium score seems to – much more – effectively correlate to heart attack risk over time, versus cholesterol scores – it’s not even close.

Coronary calcium scans are far more predictive than cholesterol scores and lifestyle risk calculators because they directly look for complex plaque formations within the artery walls.

“There is no test in the field of cardiology which can provide a better prognosis for a patient than a score of zero on a Coronary Calcium Scan.” Arthur Agatston M.D, Cardiologist and celebrity doctor best known as the developer of the South Beach Diet.

Too many heart attacks continue to occur in people considered low or intermediate risk because the traditional risk models aren’t great at predicting heart attacks.

Coronary calcium scoring is proving to be a game-changer in determining an individual’s true risk.

“Your total cholesterol level is essentially worthless for predicting a future heart attack. Forget your cholesterol level, know your calcium score”  Arthur Agatston M.D. Cardiologist

This finding potentially could mean a lot of patients may not even require statin therapy, even though they have high cholesterol.

“If there is no atherosclerosis, you are not going to have a heart attack. So the coronary calcium score may allow us to much more effectively select who we treat.” says Dr. Brent Muhlestein  Co-director of cardiology research at the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute.

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A Simple Way To Help Reduce Calcification  & Promote Optimal Heart Health

Most of you know where this is going, but you can’t beat the facts – it’s using Organic Sulfur daily.

“We normally don’t think much about it, but sulfur is a hugely important nutrient for the body, and when we lack this critical substance, we may be paying for it with the health of our hearts.”

Dr. Jack Wolfson M.D. Cardiologist.

Organic Sulfur / pure MSM is excellent for heart health in 3 key areas:

1.  Sulfur Helps Combats Arterial Inflammation

We all know that Organic Sulfur is a potent, natural anti-inflammatory, it does this by helping restore permeability to cells, allowing fluids to pass through and aiding in equalizing pressure within cells – this includes the epithelial cells of the endothelium. 

Harmful inflammatory agents such as lactic acids, cellular waste and toxins are allowed to flow out, while nutritional fluids and oxygen are permitted to flow in.

This helps reduce added pressure, swelling, and fluid buildup, which is a key root cause of inflammation throughout the body.

Studies looking at pulmonary hypertension, showed that doses of 100-400mg/kg of pure MSM for 10 days were able to decrease heart size, showcasing a reduction in inflammatory pressure, and toxic, lactic acid build up in and around the heart.

Source: Mohammadi S, Najafi M, Hamzeiy H, et al. Protective effects of methylsulfonylmethane on hemodynamics and oxidative stress in monocrotaline-induced pulmonary hypertensive rats. Adv Pharmacol Sci. 2012;2012:507278. Source can be found by clicking here.

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2. Sulfur is a Potent Decalcifier

Again, calcium deposits have been shown to greatly increase the buildup of plaque in arteries. Calcium has jagged sides that latch onto cholesterol particles flowing through your arteries.

But using pure MSM daily can be very impactful on these calcium deposits and is beneficial for helping to reduce calcified build up, and scarring that occurs in the arteries.

“Being a potent, natural calcium phosphate dissolver, MSM helps to break up calcium deposits that tend to collect in various pockets of the body.”

With consistent use, MSM helps dissolve calcified deposits. MSM does this by turning these deposits from calcium phosphate into calcium sulfate.

By doing this, MSM binds with calcium phosphate, and creates calcium sulfate which is much softer and more soluble so the body can break these deposits down and excrete them with far greater ease.

Sources: Karwowski, W., Naumnik, B., Szczepański, M., & Myśliwiec, M. (2012). The mechanism of vascular calcification – a systematic review. Medical science monitor : international medical journal of experimental and clinical research, 18(1), RA1-11.  What is msm? A dietary sulfur based anti-inflammatory supplement. Superfood Evolution.

 MSM Helps Turn Calcium Phosphate Into Softer, Dissolvable Calcium Sulfate

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3. Sulfur Helps Keep Arteries Softer & More Flexible

Sulfur is also very important as it helps keep cells, connective tissues, and arteries flexible and soft.

The body also uses Sulfur to create new, healthy cells. Sulfur also helps provides the flexible bonds between cells.

When low in Sulfur, the flexible bonds between cells becomes much more rigid.

This can lead to hardening of the tissues that make up your arteries.

Without proper levels of Sulfur in the body, we’re simply unable to build enough good, healthy cells, and maintain flexible bonds between cells within tissue.

“MSM is excellent in maintaining flexibility in arteries, improving oxygen flow and keeping the arteries clean and clear of arterial plaque from forming.”

Source: Doctors Beyond Medication

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Scientific Research On MSM & Heart Health

The Cellular Matrix Study

The Organic Sulfur Study of the Cellular Matrix was started in 1999 to study the effects of reintroducing bio-active, Organic Sulfur back into the diet.

The study was created in order to address the lack of access to Organic Sulfur in many Western diets.

Lack of Organic Sulfur is a true wide-scale deficiency in many Western countries, due to the increased use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, vastly reducing the soil’s natural sulfur content.

Thousands of people in over 18 countries have taken part in the study to date.

Here are some interesting findings of the study in relation to the heart and circulatory system:

• During one portion of the study looking at the heart impacts of Organic Sulfur/MSM, 54 test subjects were scheduled for upcoming heart surgery, after the study all 54 cases of scheduled heart surgery were actually cancelled when the subjects EKG’s returned to normal within as little as six weeks of ingesting Organic Sulfur as a supplement.
• 45 participants also reported other heart conditions like murmurs, flutters, palpitations, and erratic heartbeat being reduced or completely eliminated.
• Over 200 cases reported high blood pressure had it returning to normal due to the breakdown of calcium plaque in the arteries
• Blood conditions like thick blood or ‘sticky blood’ were greatly improved in just months of beginning daily Organic Sulfur intake.

Source: Cellular Matrix Study. Click Here For More Information.

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Disclaimer: Information presented on this site is of a general nature used for educational and information purposes only. Statements or opinions about products and health conditions have not been evaluated by the US Food and Drug Administration (The FDA). Products and information stated herein are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease or condition. If you have any concerns about your own health or are wanting to use a new mineral supplement, vitamin or herbal supplement, you should always consult with a physician or other healthcare professional first. This is the same for your pet, always first consult with your veterinarian before using any new pet supplement or vitamin first.

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Disclaimer: Information presented on this site is of a general nature used for educational and information purposes only. Statements or opinions about products and health conditions have not been evaluated by the US Food and Drug Administration (The FDA). Products and information stated herein are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease or condition. If you have any concerns about your own health or are wanting to use a new mineral supplement, vitamin or herbal supplement, you should always consult with a physician or other healthcare professional first. This is the same for your pet, always first consult with your veterinarian before using any new pet supplement or vitamin first.