**First for anyone reading, this is not medical advice. Discuss these findings with your doctor and or nutritionist before proceeding with any ideas.** https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2017/01/04/20/24/ecg-1953179_1280.jpg Atherosclerotic plaque regression ---- Plaque regression has been shown to be possible and particularly more effective if changes are made to diet and lifestyle earlier rather than later. This was particularly verified by a 2014 study which showed that early atherosclerotic plaques in vessel wall regress completely when cholesterol levels are lowered. Most of the regression studies that I have seen refer to LDL cholesterol levels specifically being lowered to below a certain threshold below which regression begins to take place. There is debate whether it's regression or healing but in any case this regression seems to improve circulation capacity which is beneficial for those who seek to either reduce the rate of aging or increase their health span. Many of these studies rely on statins. It should be known that statins have risks such as muscle pains or increased risk of type 2 diabetes. Some statins are shown to work better in some patients than others with regard to insulin sensitivity or muscle injury. Pitavastatin in particular has been shown in a study to have no major impact on insulin sensitivity or liver fat. It should be noted that these studies have to be replicated and risks do remain with the use of statins but it also must be noted that doctors typically weigh the benefits against the risk of any drug. The risk benefit analysis is something you and your doctor should discuss. This should be the case for any drug your doctor suggests that you take. If there is a legitimate risk of stroke or heart disease then there are equations which can reveal the 10 year risk based on your lipid panel results (and your genetics). It should be noted that diabetics are at a particular high risk, as are smokers, as are people with a family history. There was also a study which showed garlic can reduce or prevent plaque regression. The study involving 55 patients shows that garlic may have some effect on plaque formation (it may reduce the ability of plaque to form) but due to the study only having 55 patients it is not a very strong study. That being said because garlic is very safe for most people it might not be the worst idea to try using garlic or taking a garlic supplement because garlic does have the ability to increase nitric oxide, lower blood pressure, and kill bacteria. PCSK9 inhibition is shown to aid in plaque regression as well. PCSK9 inhibition I have blogged about before and it's injected like a vaccine which reduces the ability of the body to create LDL cholesterol. The exact process behind PCSK9 inhibition is a bit complicated so I will not discuss it right now. The issue is that it has a relatively high price but for people who have plenty of money and also genetically high cholesterol (this can be revealed in a genetic test) it might be worth it for these people to discuss with their doctors the option of using this approach. Cyclodextrin has also been shown to reduce plaque (plaque regression has been shown in mouse studies). The problem is that insufficient studies have been done on humans. This is possibly due to the fact that it's a nutraceutical approach. The cyclodextrin approach is particularly groundbreaking in my opinion because it seems to work on the basis of macrophage reprogramming. Cyclodextrin may have the side effect of hearing loss or and other unknown side effects, so this is not something to mess around with unless you really understand the potential damage it could cause. I personally don't understand it very well and there isn't very good human studies on it. Dr. Jennifer Robinson has planned a trial to see if atherosclerosis can be cured. Her goal is ambitious but it will have to go through a lot of regulatory hurdles and take quite a while. The lowest risk easiest approach may be to simply adopt a healthy lifestyle and diet. A whole food plant based diet has been shown to reduce LDL cholesterol levels while exercise raises HDL in studies. This in combination with the aged garlic and pomegranate extract may suspect progression. It's unknown if it will reverse plaque or if reversing plaque is possible without drugs but it has been shown that if LDL is low enough and if the ratios look good then it puts the risk levels very low which can give the body time to heal. How long does plaque regression take? ---- One study suggests that 19.7 months is the average amount of time necessary for significant plaque regression to be revealed. In other words around 2 years of strict plant based healthy living may be enough to reverse damage in the best case scenario but in the more conservative scenario it might suspend progression of the damage and allow the body to heal. In other words the risks from the previous damage can be nullified by good habits in many cases depending on of course the analysis of lipid ratios by your doctor. Conclusion ---- The point being that from the research it appears to be possible to either reverse or prevent damage to the arteries. The majority of the research I have seen shows that inflammation and lipid dysregulation cause aging of the arteries in the form of plaque. Slowing this down is one of the best approaches I can find and depending on the patient it might be necessary to be more or less aggressive in approach. For people interested in taking things to the next step and in building their knowledge base on this subject please read [Non-HDL Cholesterol Goal | What’s Optimal?](https://www.pritikin.com/good-non-hdl-cholesterol-goal). I personally like Pritikin due to how they are set up and due to the fact that they are sharing knowledge based on the latest known evidence in an accessible manner. References --- Aharoni, S., Lati, Y., Aviram, M., & Fuhrman, B. (2015). Pomegranate juice polyphenols induce a phenotypic switch in macrophage polarization favoring a M 2 anti‐inflammatory state. Biofactors, 41(1), 44-51. Braun, L. R., Feldpausch, M. N., Czerwonka, N., Weiss, J., Branch, K., Lee, H., ... & Stanley, T. L. (2018). Effects of Pitavastatin on Insulin Sensitivity and Liver Fat: A Randomized Clinical Trial. The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, 103(11), 4176-4186. Gebauer, K., & Reinecke, H. (2018). PCSK9 inhibition for LDL lowering and beyond–implications for patients with peripheral artery disease. Vasa. Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center (LA BioMed). (2016, January 21). New study shows aged garlic extract can reduce dangerous plaque buildup in arteries: Supplement can help prevent progression of heart disease. ScienceDaily. Retrieved May 22, 2019 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/01/160121122158.htm Karolinska Institutet. (2014, February 27). Early atherosclerotic plaques in vessel wall regress completely when cholesterol levels are lowered. ScienceDaily. Retrieved May 18, 2019 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/02/140227191110.htm Noyes, A. M., & Thompson, P. D. (2014). A systematic review of the time course of atherosclerotic plaque regression. Atherosclerosis, 234(1), 75-84. Moss, J. W., Williams, J. O., & Ramji, D. P. (2018). Nutraceuticals as therapeutic agents for atherosclerosis. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA)-Molecular Basis of Disease, 1864(5), 1562-1572. Robinson, J. G., & Gidding, S. S. (2014). Curing atherosclerosis should be the next major cardiovascular prevention goal. Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 63(25 Part A), 2779-2785. Zimmer, S., Grebe, A., Bakke, S. S., Bode, N., Halvorsen, B., Ulas, T., ... & Hempel, C. (2016). Cyclodextrin promotes atherosclerosis regression via macrophage reprogramming. Science translational medicine, 8(333), 333ra50-333ra50.
Originally posted here: https://steemit.com/health/@dana-edwards/reversing-the-damage-of-bad-habits-in-your-youth-atherosclerotic-plaque-regression
No comments:
Post a Comment