Vita-nutrients for your heart

In a low-carbohydrate crazy world, Dr. Robert Atkins was a hero. As early as 1963, eight years after graduating with a medical degree from the Cornell University Medical School, Dr. Atkins began the Atkins nutritional approach.

His book, Dr. Atkins‚ New Diet Revolution was a New York bestseller for seven years. This was followed by a cookbook written with his wife, Dr. Atkins Quick and Easy New Diet Cookbook. In January 2003, his last book Atkins for Life was released and within days became the number one book on the New York bestsellers’ list. The same year, he died of complications after severe head trauma sustained in an accident.

I guess what a lot of people do not know is that beyond the success of the Atkins diet, Dr. Robert Atkins was one of the most successful and respected practitioners of integrative medicine. In the Atkins Center for Complementary Medicine in Manhattan, he often combined diet with vita-nutrients (vitamins, minerals, amino acids, herbs, and hormones), along with mainstream medicinal therapies to treat his thousands of patients.

He documented his patients’ experiences and his prescriptions in a well-written book, Dr. Atkins Vita-Nutrient Solution: Nature’s Answer to Drugs, from which I took some of his interesting insights on supplements for a healthier heart.

I checked other books such as Prescription for Nutritional Healing by Dr. James Balch and Phyllis Balch C.N.C., The Vitamin Strategy by Dr. Art Ulene and Dr. Val Ulene, and Time-Life’s Medical Advisor to compare Dr. Atkins’ recommendation. Their opinions are similar except for slight variations in dosages.

Dr. Atkins clarified in his book that heart disease may be prevented by taking enough antioxidants (such as vitamins C and E) and minerals (such as magnesium, zinc, copper, chromium, and selenium). He classified heart-energizing nutrients, such as carnitine and CoQ10, as most important for heart and vascular health as well as herbs like hawthorn and garlic. Folic acid and vitamin B6 were also classified by Dr. Atkins as crucial in preventing homocystein from damaging the coronary arteries.

Here are Dr. Atkins’ prescriptions:

Magnesium

"Magnesium is scientifically established as the heart’s most important mineral. As a cardiologist, I see more people for heart-related ailments than for any other problem. About 98 percent, I’d guess, need magnesium, and all of them benefit from it. Irregular heart rhythms become more stable, high blood pressure improves, the heart pumps a larger volume of blood with no extra demand for oxygen, constricted blood vessels relax allowing blood to flow more freely, HDL (good) cholesterol rises and LDL (bad) cholesterol falls, chest pains strike less frequently and the blood becomes less likely to form artery-blocking clots."

Recommendation: 400 to 800 mg daily.

Co-Enzyme Q10 Or Ubiquinone

"It is neither vitamin (the body can make it from other nutrients) nor mineral nor amino acid, yet it is vital to our health and vital that we get enough of it. The heart is utterly dependent on CoQ10 to meet its constant energy needs. People with heart disease have 25 percent less CoQ10 than their healthy counterparts. Should deficiency reach 75 percent, some experts have speculated, the heart would stop beating."

Recommendation: 60 to 120 mg daily.

L-Carnitine

"The heart is completely dependent upon carnitine; two-thirds of its energy supply comes from the fats that carnitine allows the body to burn. After a heart attack, several complications are likely, including chest pains, heart rhythm disturbances, and heart failure. Taking 2 grams of carnitine per day for four weeks, hospital-based studies show, can cut the number of those complications in half." Recommendation: 1,000 to 2,000 mg daily.

Taurine

"In addition to encouraging the excretion of excess fluid, which takes pressure off our blood vessels, the amino acid dampens the sympathetic nervous system thereby relieving arterial spasms that cause blood pressure to rise. Aside from the diuretic action, taurine strengthens the heart muscle and maintains the calcium balance." Recommendation: 500 to 1,000 mg daily.

Vitamin E

"Several things happen when you take vitamin E regularly. The most important comes from the nutrient’s antioxidant shield, which prevents LDL cholesterol from sticking to the artery walls. At the same time, vitamin E works to eliminate triglycerides (another dangerous blood fat) and increases the amount of artery cleansing HDL cholesterol. In addition, it lowers insulin and spares the heart from damage caused by magnesium deficiency or a lack of oxygen." Recommendation: 400 to 800 IU daily.

Vitamin C

"A low tissue concentration of vitamin C, many researchers now agree, should be considered a bona fide risk factor for heart disease. The nutrient’s stellar performance in protecting blood fats from turning into atherosclerotic plaque makes it one of our best tools against heart disease."

Recommendation: 1,000 to 3,000 mg daily.

Chromium

"Insulin disorders and obesity are major risk factors for heart disease. A deficiency of chromium has also been associated with a higher chance of developing heart problems, but not just because it helps to foster better sugar control and weight loss. Adding the mineral to my nutrient prescription helps raise the blood’s concentration of artery-clearing HDL cholesterol and at the same time decreases LDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels."

Recommendation: 200 to 400 mcg daily.

Pantethine

"The escalation of our two most dangerous blood fats, low-density lipoprotein and triglycerides, stops dead in its tracks when confronted by pantethine. A daily 900 mg dose of panthetine led to a 32 percent drop in triglycerides, a 19 percent drop in total cholesterol, and a 21 percent drop in LDL."

Recommendation:450 to 900 mg daily.

As a passionate crusader for the use of nutritional therapies, Dr. Atkins rallied his readers to force their doctors to gain more knowledge about vita-nutrients: "My vita-nutrient solutions are usually powerful enough to replace conventional medications. However, when combined with these medications, they can turn a safe medication into an overdose. Because vita-nutrients are safer than drugs, the drugs are the logical target for dosage reduction. This should certainly be done under a doctor’s supervision, but it is mandatory that the decision-making doctor be as knowledgeable about vita-nutrients as about pharmaceuticals."

I am totally for it. It is time we have a choice in the therapy to be used to treat our ailments or simply improve our health status.

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E-mail mylene@goldsgym.ph for comments and questions.