Category: General

A recent European study concluded that niacin (nicotinic acid, B3) had too many side effects and is not worth using. The media quickly got on board to spread the news. The study was funded by Merck pharmaceuticals, the makers of the statin drug Zocor. Two grams of extended-release niacin and 40 mg of laropiprant or a matching placebo daily was given. The primary outcome was the first major vascular event (nonfatal myocardial infarction, death from coronary causes, stroke, or arterial revascularization). Problems with this study: I think it's a clear case of profit directed manipulation of research data. The “niacin” was actually not niacin at all. It was niacin with a drug called laropiprant. The study was only for 3.9 years…also not long enough in my opinion. The problem is the laropiprant, a drug used to reduce skin flushing. Laropiprant has never been approved by the FDA and when taken alone has been shown to increase gastrointestinal bleeding. Laropiprant interferes with a basic prostaglandin receptor pathway that is important for good health. Last year Merck announced it would withdraw laropiprant worldwide due to complaints from continental Europe. Therefore the clinical trials in this most recent study could only be performed in the...

A heart scan is a very useful way to individualize a patient’s care in my patient population. The heart scan and coronary calcium score are terms used interchangeably. It allows me to see the burden of plaque in the coronary arteries and helps determine risk along with other testing. One thing I like about heart scans is that often it is the first wake-up call for a patient. This leads to a further workup and can go a long way in preventing cardiovascular events. How to Interpret a Heart Scan/Calcium Score By definition having a positive coronary calcium score means that you have coronary artery disease. However, the amount matters, especially over 400. Calcium scoring has been found to be more accurate at predicting risk than blood tests. A heart scan tells you how much calcified plaque you have as well as which arteries are affected. Risk increases as the calcium score gets higher but there’s a catch. It’s the rate of progression that matters more. A rate of progression greater than 15% is too high. There is another catch that makes understanding calcium scoring hard. In some cases the healing process leads to more calcification. This is not always...

Plaquex is now available at NatureMed. Its an intravenous form of purified phosphatidyl choline (PC). PC is a phospholipid and works to increase something called reverse cholesterol transport (the removal of cholesterol from the vascular system).  Heres what it does: lowers LDL, raises HDL, lowers triglycerides and reduces plaque in arteries. Plaque in arteries is still the number one cause of heart attacks. Oral forms are also available but less effectiveness than the IV form. 

There is a lot of information out there on coconut oil.  Lots of sources label it as a “health food” with a variety of great health benefits. Others seem less convinced. It is in fact, a saturated fat. Haven’t we learned those are bad for you? We get this question a lot at Naturemed: Is coconut oil good for you? And should I be eating it. As with all health topics, usually the answer is not black and white. And the same is true with coconut oil. Through a review of some of the literature we will try to flush out the rumors, myths and facts. Lets start with the Good: Coconut Oil as an antimicrobial agent: Coconut oil contains a compound known as Lauric acid. It is a saturated fatty acid that makes up almost 50% of the fatty acids in coconut oil. When coconut oil is digested in the body, it forms a compound known as monolaurin. Both lauric acid and monolaurin have been found to be highly antimicrobial (Kabara, Swieckowski, Conley et al., 1972) and have the ability to kill common bacteria such as Staph Aureus (the bacteria involved with acne) and the yeast Candida Albicans (the...

Being male puts a patient at increased risk of getting cardiovascular disease (CVD) mostly because men get CVD approximately 10 years earlier then women. Increased risk begins at 55 for men and 65 for women. Hormonal factors are hypothesized to be responsible for this difference in risk. Overall risk of hypertension does differ appreciably between men and women. Because hypertension is an important modifiable risk factor one could argue that aggressive early detection and treatment in the male population could help to delay the progression of CVD An estimated 70 million American adults have prehypertension, a blood pressure (BP) classification adopted in 2003 by Seventh Joint National Committee on the Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of Hypertension (JNC7). Prehypertension describes a range of BP levels that had previously been categorized as normal or borderline: 120-139 mm Hg systolic and/or 80-89 mm Hg diastolic (see table 1). Table 1 JNC6 Classification (1997) Blood Pressure (mm Hg) JNC7 Classification (2003) Optimal