CORONARY HEART DISEASE
Artherosclerotic or coronary heart disease (CHD) refers to a wide
variety of potentially fatal diseases of the heart, such as angina, heart
attack and stroke.
CHD may affect up to 7% of
all individuals[1], and is strongly associated with obesity, smoking, hypertension
(high blood pressure) and insufficient levels of vitamin C. When a person is
overweight or obese, their heart is placed under additional strain to keep
oxygenated blood circulating around the body, while fatty plaques begin to
build within blood vessel walls, occluding blood flow. People who are
overweight or obese are therefore more likely to develop high blood pressure
while having higher levels of triglycerides (blood fats) and low density
lipoprotein (LDL or "bad") cholesterol, and low levels of high density
lipoprotein (HDL or "good") cholesterol. Collectively, these factors place
overweight people at a higher risk of incurring heart disease, stroke and
inflammed blood vessels.
Current preventative
treatments for CHD include omega-3 fatty acids[2-4] and vitamin K2 (menaquinone). [5-7]
- Prevalence of All Coronary Heart Disease [www.heartstats.org]
- Hooper L, Thompson RL, Harrison RA, Summerbell CD, Ness AR,
Moore HJ, Worthington HV, Durrington PN, Higgins JP, Capps NE et al: Risks and benefits of omega 3 fats for mortality, cardiovascular
disease, and cancer: systematic review. BMJ
2006, 332(7544):752-760.
- Wang C, Harris WS, Chung M, Lichtenstein AH, Balk EM,
Kupelnick B, Jordan HS, Lau J: n-3 Fatty
acids from fish or fish-oil supplements, but not alpha-linolenic acid, benefit
cardiovascular disease outcomes in primary- and secondary-prevention studies: a
systematic review. Am J Clin Nutr 2006,
84(1):5-17.
- Yokoyama M, Origasa H, Matsuzaki M, Matsuzawa Y, Saito Y,
Ishikawa Y, Oikawa S, Sasaki J, Hishida H, Itakura H et al: Effects of
eicosapentaenoic acid on major coronary events in hypercholesterolaemic
patients (JELIS): a randomised open-label, blinded endpoint analysis. Lancet 2007, 369(9567):1090-1098.
- Geleijnse JM, Vermeer C, Grobbee DE, Schurgers LJ, Knapen
MH, van der Meer IM, Hofman A, Witteman JC: Dietary intake of menaquinone is associated with a reduced risk of
coronary heart disease: the Rotterdam Study. J Nutr 2004, 134(11):3100-3105.
- Erkkila AT, Booth SL: Vitamin
K intake and atherosclerosis. Curr
Opin Lipidol 2008, 19(1):39-42.
- Wallin R, Schurgers L, Wajih N: Effects of the blood coagulation vitamin K as an inhibitor of arterial
calcification. Thromb Res 2008, 122(3):411-417.
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