Cardiovascular Disease- How to Reverse Heart Disease

Exercise goals:

Maintain a physically active lifestyle. Regular activity promotes cardiovascular fitness. For further information about benefits of aerobic exercise or resistance training, please see these sections of Preventive Health Advisor.

Smoking:

Counsel patients to quit smoking. Please see the section on smoking cessation in Preventive Health Advisor.

Importance of reducing dietary fat intake and coronary artery disease:

Reducing dietary fat, LDL reduction, and arterial diameter: Fourteen patients with slightly elevated levels of low-density lipoproteins (LDL) and confirmed coronary atherosclerosis were treated with pharmacologic and nonpharmacologic interventions for 2 years. The subjects were evaluated by coronary angiogram before and after the 2 year University of California Davis Coronary Artery Disease Regression Program. During the study intervention, dietary fat intake was decreased by 58% and intensive risk factor reduction was implemented. LDL levels dropped from 120 mg/dL to 104 mg/dL (p = 0.05). After 24 months, there was a net increase in arterial diameter (regression) of 0.05 mm to 2.81 mm (p = 0.01). While there was no significant change in the average diameter of discrete stenosis (abnormal narrowing in a blood vessel), 1 of 8 mild lesions < or = 20% regressed, while 4 progressed. The intervention resulted in regression of more severe lesions (> 50% initial stenosis), but does not appear to prevent progression of mild lesions (< 20%). These findings suggest that in patients with only mild elevation of lipids, the modification of risk factors improves the biology of the most severe lesions. (81)