Every year, you hear dire warnings about elevated heart attack risks around the holidays.
Usually, these are accompanied by bad advice that suggests eating beef and too much-saturated fat is somehow triggering more heart attacks.
My regular readers won’t be surprised to learn I consider these reports completely bunk. Fats from natural sources like grass-fed beef don’t harm your heart.
They help it.
So, let’s dispel once and for all the Big Agra-based myth that people are having heart attacks over the holidays because they eat too much fat.
With that being said, there is a threat to your heart that’s quite real. And it may be of special concern this holiday season.
The good news is you still have plenty of time to take the steps to protect yourself. Let me explain…
“Broken Heart Syndrome” Cases Jump Over 400%
It’s called “broken heart” or “holiday heart attack” syndrome, and it speaks to the powerful link between your mental, emotional, and physical well-being.
Our medical schools and their Big Pharma cronies like to treat mind and body as if they’re two separate things. But they’re wrong about this – and the rising incidence of broken heart syndrome proves it.
A recent study by researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center found that hospitalizations for heart attacks stemming from stress and emotional trauma – broken heart syndrome – jumped 400% from 2007 to 2017.1
It can happen when someone loses a loved one, has a bad injury, undergoes chemotherapy, or suddenly finds themself in the unemployment line. The severe emotional stress they experience can have real, damaging effects on the body.
The official name for the disease is Takotsubo syndrome (TTS). When the heart muscle suddenly weakens, the left ventricle of the heart becomes deformed. It starts to take on the shape of
a big-headed octopus swimming through water. Takotsubo is the Japanese word for octopus trap.Experts first identified this disease in Japan, but it’s a global phenomenon. Cedars-Sinai researchers estimate there are up to 100,000 cases of TTS every year in the United States, but most of them go undetected.
Symptoms can range from chest pain to a full-blown heart attack or stroke. Elderly women appear to be the most vulnerable.
I’m thinking a lot about heart health right now because I know there has been an increase in emotional stress, pain, and trauma for many.
That’s why I’m telling my patients to act now to protect their vital heart function. And the great news this holiday season is that there’s still plenty of time to do it.
Give Your Heart the Nutrients It Needs
Here are four natural supplements I recommend to give your heart robust strength. I suggest you make them a regular part of your routine now – before we begin the holiday countdown.
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- “B” Kind To Your Heart – You need to be sure you’re getting enough of several, specific B vitamins that have a powerful ability to protect your heart. I especially recommend B2, B6, B9 (folate), and B12. These nutrients drastically lower levels of homocysteine, an amino acid that rises to dangerous levels under oxidative stress and it increases your risk of blood clots. One study concluded that subjects with high homocysteine levels are 300% more likely to suffer a heart attack.2 Good food sources include leafy greens, liver and organ meats, eggs, salmon, and grass-fed beef. I also recommend daily supplementation as follows: 2.5 mg of B6, 800 mcg of B9, and 500 mcg of B12.
- Feed Your Heart Muscle CoQ10 – Long before most other doctors had even heard of coenzyme Q10, I was writing about its benefits in my book, The Doctor’s Heart Cure. CoQ10 is what your cellular power plants use to produce energy. And when you’re talking about heart muscle, which has to maintain a steady pulse 24/7, that’s critical. It’s almost impossible to get enough CoQ10 naturally due to depletion caused by Big Agra’s industrial-scale food production. I advise my patients to take at least 50 mg daily of CoQ10 in its highly absorbable form, ubiquinol. And make sure you include PQQ. That’s a natural compound that’s been shown to actually boost the number of energy-producing mitochondria in your heart tissue, and throughout your body.
- L-Carnitine Keeps a Heart Healthy – Plants, mammals, and many forms of bacteria have something in common… To survive, they need the amino acid, L-carnitine. Without it, your body can’t transport long-chain fatty acids into the energy-producing centers inside every cell in your heart. And that causes energy production to fade. You can get L-carnitine from grass-fed red meat and dairy. I also advise patients to supplement with at least 200 mg daily.
- Get Your Heart What It Needs With L-Arginine – Another vital amino acid that has a tremendous heart-boosting effect is L-arginine. That’s because it’s a precursor to nitric oxide, a compound that tells blood vessels in your heart it’s time to relax, expand, and carry more blood. Without it, blood vessels narrow. During periods of intense stress, including the holidays, you need as much blood supply to your heart as you can get. Food sources of L-arginine include grass-fed red meat, wild-caught fish, pastured chicken, and nuts. I also advise patients to supplement with 500 mg of L-arginine daily.
To Your Good Health,
Al Sears, MD, CNS
References:
1. Pattisapu, Varun K., et al. “Sex‐ and Age‐Based Temporal Trends in Takotsubo Syndrome Incidence in the United States.” Journal of the American Heart Association, vol. 10, no. 20, 19 Oct. 2021, 10.1161/jaha.120.019583.
2. HStampfer, M. J., et al. “A Prospective Study of Plasma Homocysteine and Risk of Myocardial Infarction in US Physicians.” JAMA, vol. 268, no. 7, 19 Aug. 1992, pp. 877–881, pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1640615/.