The Preeminent Newport Beach cardiologist, Dr Rajput, who spoke at the Hilton in Costa Mesa recently shared with us some pretty interesting facts about Coronary Heart Disease (CHD).

He brought up a very interesting point right off the bat: Why don't doctors routinely screen for heart disease when they do screen for so many other things: breast cancer, prostate cancer, colon cancer, etc, when we know that the leading cause of death is a heart attack, both in women and men. Answer: poor medical reimbursemt.

He gave us a list of symptoms to look for, many of whom are ignored:

1. chest pain or pressure in chest, throat, neck, left arm pain (these are the ones most of us know)

2. sweating, nausea (many people take Tums just before a heart attack, thinking they have indigestion. (suggesting that if they have Tums on hand, they've had this symptom before)

3. fast heart rate - suddenly

4. feeling of dizziness or feeling like you are going to "pass out."

5. here's the killer: no specific symptom

For stroke, they are more familiar:

1. focal weakness

2. slurry speech

3. facial droop

4. acute visual change

5. other acute neruological symptoms

The risk factors:

1. family history of CHD

2. cholesterol panel that shows the level of oxidized LDL (not all LDL is bad, just the oxidized - a particular test is necessary for this - ask for it)

3. stress and where our thoughts go - our attitude about life is critical

4. diabetes

5. lack of (moderate) exercise

When you are suffering a heart attack:

#2: chew an aspirin "like candy" he said. Follow with water.

Testing - levels of accuracy:

1. Treadmill test - 60-70% accurate. (we all know people who've had a heart attack after being "cleared" by the treadmill test (think Tim Russert)

2. CT scan for coronary artery disease - very predictive

3. stress echocardiogram - 85% accurate

4. nuclear stress test - 85% accurate

5. coronary calcium CT scan - >95% accurate

6. cardiac CT angiography >95% accurate

Interesting fact I did not know: 68% of heart attacks occur in people with less than 50% blockage in an artery. SMOKERS: one blocked vessel (called "single vessel disease") can precipitate a heart attack by rupturing that one vessel, from the oxidative damage done by smoking.

Preventing CHD:

1. Biggest factor: lifestyle choices. Read: what we eat, what we think, and what we think about - are we negative or positive in our thinking? Learning to calm ourselves.

2. Getting enough moderate exercise to keep vessels open. Walking 30 min every day at a nice clip is perfect.

3. Eat as close to a plant-based diet as you can, avoiding red meat, too much alcohol, and smoking.

4. His final recommendation is to "fill in the gaps" in our diet by taking JuicePlus+. The three blends of fruits, vegetables, berries & grapes provide enough anti-oxidative protection to keep arteries completely open even after a high fat meal. (Research published in the American College of Cardiology) This particular study had the most profound effect on convincing Dr Rajput to suggest taking JuicePlus+ to all of his patients. And since it's "just food" it doesn't interfere with any medications. His goal is to get all of his patients off all of their medications! He succeeds with the folks who follow these 4 guidelines. Heart disease is reversible!