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by Stephen T. Sinatra, M.D.
Heart Sense For Women
Is a woman’s heart different from a man’s? The answer is emphatically yes! Half a million women die from heart disease each year—in fact, more and more women die from heart disease yearly. Yet heart disease is still thought of as a man’s malady.
Heart disease is six times more likely than breast cancer to cause a woman’s death. It is the leading cause of death today, even more than men, yet we rarely read or hear about it. In fact most heart attacks get misdiagnosed, if not ignored completely. Why has this epidemic been overlooked by medicine?
Even after 25 years as a cardiologist and being aware of the unusual symptoms displayed by many women, I still find that coronary artery disease (CAD) in women often presents itself like a complex mystery where following the “clues” is still one of the most difficult challenges that I face. That’s why you must become familiar with the symptoms of heart disease—so you can gain control of your health, implement alternative methods of treating your heart and prevent a more serious event such as a heart attack.
How can you protect yourself against becoming a statistic? Whether you are seeking to prevent heart disease or reverse its onset, the mission of Heart Sense For Women Your Plan for Natural Prevention and Treatment is to provide a valuable resource to help you learn to stay healthy and respect the mystery of your heart. To help you become captain of your own healthcare team Heart Sense For Women explores:
• The amazing differences between men’s and women’s hearts—in terms of structure, symptoms and treatment.
• How the first symptom of heart disease in women is often sudden death—and how to detect a woman’s “early warning signs” before it’s too late.
• The pros and cons of Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT) in protecting your heart.
• The five crucial steps you should take when diagnosed with heart disease.
• How to use emotional healing to detoxify the most anxious Type-A personality.
• The world’s oldest secret to a healthy heart.
• The five essential vitamins and minerals every women must have in her daily?regimen.
• What heart medications work differently for women.
• How women’s early warning symptoms are totally different from men’s—and why your cardiologist might not recognize them until it’s too late.
• The surprising news about cholesterol, homocysteine, lipoprotein(a) and LDL oxidation.
• Why your intuition might be more reliable than a prescription.
• A natural program for reducing your blood pressure and reducing your reliance on medication.
• How a modified Mediterranean diet will help you prevent or reverse heart disease, as well as osteoporosis and cancer... plus, the top 12 heart-healing food groups.
• Why nutritional supplements are essential for heart health and longevity, including the five vitamins and minerals that you must have in your daily regimen.
My Top Ten Nutritional Supplements for Women
1. Coenzyme Q10
2. L-carnitine
3. B-Vitamins (folic acid, B12, B6)
4. Carotenoids (lutein)
5. Magnesium/calcium
6. Vitamin E
7. Vitamin C
8. OPC’s (grape seed, pycnogenol)
9. Alpha lipoic acid (ALA)
10. NAC (n-acetylcysteine)
Coenzyme Q10: Energy on call for your heart
There have been more than 100 clinical studies at major universities and hospitals documenting the benefits of coenzyme Q10. It has demonstrated ability to improve congestive heart failure (CHF) and angina and reduce high blood pressure. The research shows that CoQ10 helps patients get through—and recover more quickly from—bypass surgery. It also helps offset the toxic effects of statin drugs used for lowering cholesterol as well as chemotherapy. I have long considered CoQ10 a wonder-nutrient because this energizing nutrient essentially improves the heart’s ability to pump more effectively.
Every cell must have a way of obtaining energy. In cardiac cells, as well as throughout the body, oxygen-based production occurs within the cellular power plants called mitochondria. Here CoQ10 provides essential energy in its most basic form—adenosine triphosphate (ATP)—the energy of life. Without adequate CoQ10 as a cofactor, ATP synthesis slows down, eventually leaving the cell in a vulnerable state.
As oxygen-based production takes place within the cellular mitochondria, CoQ10 concentrations in heart cells can be 10 times greater than in any other body?tissues including the brain and colon.
The heart is one of the few organs in the body to function continuously without resting therefore the heart muscle (myocardium) requires the highest level of energetic support. Thus, any condition that causes a decrease in CoQ10 could impair the energetic capacity of the heart, thus leaving the tissues more susceptible to free radical attack.
Since free radical stress is more pronounced in advancing stages of heart failure, the heart becomes even more vulnerable in these situations. Higher doses of CoQ10 will be required for severe heart failure. I recommend at least 300 to 400 mg per day in such instances.
I recommend coenzyme Q10 according to the following tiered dosage schedule:
• 300 to 400 mg/day—advanced congestive heart failure.
• 120 to 240 mg/day—high blood pressure, angina, arrhythmia, mitral valve prolapse and periodontal disease.
• 90 to 150 mg/day—diabetes type II, insulin resistance or family history of diabetes.
• 60 to 90 mg/day—preventive maintenance for healthy hearts and anti-aging of mitochondria.
Coenzyme Q10 and L-Carnitine: The twin pillars of healing
One of CoQ10s most important tasks is to shuttle electrons between enzyme systems in order to generate energy—adenosine triphosphate (ATP), the basic building block of all energy—in the power plants of the cells (mitochondria). In fact, each heart muscle cell can have 5000 mitochondria to support energy reserves. Heart disease, including heart attacks and CHF, reduce the effective number of mitochondria due to scar tissue and other damage.
The heart is so active that it requires a constant supply of ATP. Cardiac muscle cells burn fats for fuel. But the heart demands such a constant and high level of energy resources to pump—60 to 100 times a minute, 24 hours a day, year after year—that it’s especially vulnerable to even subtle deficiencies in the factors that contribute to ATP productions: CoQ10 and L-carnitine.
While CoQ10 sparks the energy in the cells, L-carnitine is like a shuttle, bringing fatty acids into the mitochondria so they can be used for energy, then carting away toxic by-products. Think of mitochondria as the furnace, CoQ10 as the generator and L-carnitine as the delivery service. The heart burns fat as the predominant source of fuel and L-carnitine is necessary to bring the fuel into the heart cells to be burned for energy.
Stephen T. Sinatra, M.D. is a fellow of the American College of Cardiology, director of medical education at Manchester Memorial Hospital and assistant clinical professor of medicine at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. He is the author of Lose to Win: A Cardiologist’s Guide to Weight Loss, Optimum Health, The CoenzymeQ10 Phenomenon and his latest, Heart Sense for Women, published by LifeLine Press.
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