Is Mainstream Medicine Finally Waking Up?

In 2017, the American Medical Association reported deaths from cardiovascular disease have plummeted 50% since 1980.¹

We published our first newsletter in 1980.

Much of what we recommended in the early 1980s is now standard medical practice, such as using aspirin to reduce the danger of a second heart attack, and reduce this threat in other high risk patient groups.

None of the prevention strategies we advocated were without hard-fought battles.

It took a decade of intense legal and political wrangling to keep the FDA from banning coenzyme Q10. We introduced CoQ10 to Americans in 1983.

Perhaps our greatest impact was our multi-modal approach to prevention of atherosclerosis.

While the mainstream focused on single risk factors like cholesterol, we advocated for the reduction of all artery-clogging pathologies, such as lowering homocysteine and boosting DHEA.

We defied conventional dogma that allowed fasting glucose to reach 140 mg/dL before diagnosing diabetes, and blood pressure to reach 140/90 mmHg before treating hypertension.

The magnitude of lives saved by controlling vascular risk factors has been confirmed in an analysis published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).²

This editorial described findings from a study that followed a large group of people over a 16- to 22-year period. The results showed that those who controlled multiple conventional cardiac risk factors had:³

• 70%-85% lower cardiovascular mortality;
• 40%-60% lower overall mortality;
• 6-9 years greater life expectancy.

These studies further validate the proactive steps readers of Life Extension Magazine® take to slash their cardiovascular risk factors.

As you’re about to learn, remarkable longevity benefits can be obtained by following commonsense guidelines.

Coronary arteries directly feed the heart muscle and remain the Achilles tendon of modern man.

Despite huge improvements in prevention and treatment, coronary artery disease remains a leading cause of death in modern societies.⁴

There are about 600,000 stenting procedures performed each year in the United States to reopen occluded coronary arteries. Those with severe blockage undergo coronary bypass, which is major surgery that requires extended recovery periods.

A large observational study evaluated a group of people over a 16- to 22-year period. Those who qualified for the “healthy factor” category had total cholesterol of 200 mg/dL or lower, blood pressure at 120/80 mmHg (or lower), were nondiabetic and nonsmokers.³

Compared to people who had one or more of these risk factors in the elevated category, those who controlled all of them had sharply lower cardiovascular and overall mortality.

This and other studies motivated the Journal of the American Medical Association to publish an editorial titled:

“Cardiovascular Risk Factor Control for All”²

Unity of Mainstream and Natural Medicine

When reading the editorial published by the American Medical Association, you might think it comes out of an alternative health magazine.

The healthy lifestyles they suggest are virtually identical to what has been advocated for decades in Life Extension and other natural medicine publications.

Heart-healthy eating patterns include increased consumption of fruits, vegetables, fiber, and whole grains along with decreased consumption of salt, fat, and red and processed meats.

What made these suggestions unique was the recommendation to not limit healthy lifestyles to people at risk for heart attack.

Instead, the authors suggest that healthy lifestyles should be recommended with “greater enthusiasm” to all patients. Here is a quote:

“All persons, regardless of their cardiovascular disease risk status, can gain health benefits from healthy eating behaviors and appropriate physical activity.”²

From a historic perspective, the American Medical Association advising doctors to recommend “all” patients follow healthy lifestyles would have been heretical.

Needless Heart Attacks

For decades, conventional medicine claimed diet had no role in one’s risk of vascular and other diseases.^5-8

The FDA went so far as to make it illegal for food companies to claim that diets low in saturated fat and cholesterol had any relationship to artery disease. The box on the next page contains exact quotes by the FDA in 1959 and 1965 recorded in the Federal Register.

Contrast FDA’s erroneous dictates with new guidelines written about in 2017 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.² Here are two excerpts:

“Promotion of cardiovascular health is needed throughout the life course, including in early life, to establish lifelong healthy eating, exercise, weight control, and avoidance of tobacco.”

“Recommended dietary patterns focus on meals high in vegetables, fruit, whole grains, seafood, legumes, and nuts; moderate in low-fat and nonfat dairy products; lower in red and processed meat, foods and beverages containing added sugar, and refined grains.”

The FDA’s failure to recognize these common-sense approaches to heart attack prevention caused millions of Americans to prematurely lose their lives.

Heart Attacks Used To Be More Common

Heart attacks were common killers of middle-aged men throughout the 1950s to early 1980s. Back in those days, corporations felt the financial pain of losing key executives to heart attacks.

Victims of coronary artery disease today are increasingly older. This reflects a trend of postponed deaths from heart attacks.

What’s happening is that people who would have succumbed to a heart attack in middle age are now stricken in their later years.

So while cardiovascular disease deaths have plummeted (50%) since 1980, there is an expanding, aging population at risk for heart disease. These individuals should initiate actions to neutralize all their vascular risk factors.

It Begins With Blood Tests…

There is now a consensus in conventional and natural medicine.

People of all ages can benefit by reducing their coronary disease risk factors. Doing this also helps protect against stroke, kidney failure, diabetes, and other degenerative conditions.

In 2017, the Journal of the American Medical Associ-ation published an editorial that described findings from a study that followed people over an extended (16- to 22-year) period.

This study showed that when conventional cardiac risk factors were controlled, there were huge reductions (up to 85%) in cardiovascular mortality and an incredible 6-9 years of added life expectancy.

The JAMA editorial describing this study began by stating:

“Identification and control of cardiovascular disease risk factors are critical components in the prevention of cardiovascular disease.”²

As we mature, there is a marked increase in our blood markers of vascular risk.

These vascular risk markers are reversible. Waiting for angina pain to manifest, or an ambulance ride to a hospital is absurd in light of proven ways to maintain healthy arterial function.

Annual Lab Test Super Sale

An increasing number of independent vascular risk factors are recognized in the peer-reviewed scientific literature.

Just one independent risk factor is all it takes to occlude a coronary artery.

That’s why our Male and Female Blood Panels test for more than cholesterol, triglycerides, and glucose.

Our panels measure C-reactive protein, homocysteine, and hemoglobin A1c along with hormones like DHEA, testosterone, and estrogen to ensure they are in optimal balance.

Since last year, we’re providing even greater value to theMale and Female Panels by adding a test (ApoB) that helps determine your very important particle count (the number of particles carrying your cholesterol around that can form plaque in your arteries).

Having a higher ApoB means a higher number of atherogenic particles carrying the cholesterol, which may be a stronger heart attack predictor than LDL cholesterol itself. The higher your ApoB particle count the higher your cardiovascular risk.

The cost of having all these blood tests done individually is prohibitive. We make it affordable by combining them all into a comprehensive test panel that retails for $400.

During the once-a-year Blood Test Super Sale, the Male or Female Panels are discounted to $199.

The page on the right lists the tests included in the Male and Female Panels.

To order these comprehensive blood test panels at these ultra-low prices, call 1-800-208-3334 (24 hours) or log on to LifeExtension.com/labservices

Quote from JAMA editorial:

“…risk factor control in the clinical setting begins with risk assessment, aims at targeting all risk factors above ideal levels, and moves patients in measured steps toward more ideal cardiovascular health.”

“Cardiovascular Risk Factor Control for All”, Journal of the American Medical Association, July 11, 2017.

References

1. Roth GA, Dwyer-Lindgren L, Bertozzi-Villa A, et al. Trends and Patterns of Geographic Variation in Cardiovascular Mortality Among US Counties, 1980-2014. Jama. 2017;317(19):1976-92.
2. Greenland P, Fuster V. Cardiovascular risk factor control for all. JAMA. 2017;318(2):130-1.
3. Stamler J, Stamler R, Neaton JD, et al. Low risk-factor profile and long-term cardiovascular and noncardiovascular mortality and life expectancy: Findings for 5 large cohorts of young adult and middle-aged men and women. JAMA. 1999;282(21):2012-8.
4. Jones DS, Greene JA. The decline and rise of coronary heart disease: understanding public health catastrophism. Am J Public Health. 2013;103(7):1207-18.
5. Available at: https://www.lifeextension.com/magazine/2009/2/the-cholesterol-controversy. Accessed February 22, 2018.
6. Available at: https://www.lifeextension.com/magazine/2006/11/awsi. Accessed February 22, 2018.
7. Available at: https://www.pritikin.com/home-the-basics/about-pritikin/38-nathan-pritikin.html. Accessed February 22, 2018.
8. Available at: https://www.pritikin.com/healthiest-diet/pritikin-eating-plan. Accessed February 22, 2018.