My husband (40) just got his results back from a CT scan he had done to measure the amount of plaque in his coronary arteries. The test yields a score called the Coronary Artery Calcium Score or CACS. His CACS is 95. According to his doctor, this puts him at moderate risk for a heart attack within the next 5 years and above a score of 101 = heart disease. 
His score is way too close to that for comfort.
He had the test done because he has the worst family history - men on both sides of his family have had triple or quadruple bypass surgeries by the age of 60 because of coronary heart disease. So he turned 40 and I made him go get a big physical and workup and now this. (I mean, I get that the whole point of getting the physical was to find this out now while maybe we can still do something about it, but he's also feeling so down about this - he thinks of himself as fit and healthy.
)
Here are the things his doctor wants him to do:
1. Maintain weight. (My husband is a healthy weight)
2. Take 81 mg of aspirin per day.
3. Take 1000 mg of fish oil per day.
4. Exercise regularly. (My husband walks to/from the train every day and is active in the yard and garden, but he does not "work out".)
5. Start a cholesterol lowering drug in the class of statins (e.g., simvastatin) to be taken every day for the rest of his life.
My diet and the kids' diet is fairly traditional foods focused. All organic, mostly local, pastured meat and dairy etc. My husband does better than this than many men, but frankly has a long way to go diet wise. Compared to most people, he eats well, but I look at what he eats and see many improvements that need to be made.
Questions....
Can you reverse plaque on the arteries? How?
Are there any supplements or alternative treatments we should be looking at?
What is the deal with saturated fat and plaque on the arteries... we eat A LOT of staturated fat - in the form of grassfed milk and cheese, pastured beef etc. In fact, we only buy whole milk, real cheeses, etc. and I use pastured butter liberally in our cooking. I am now experiencing a lot of self-doubt that maybe all this fat isn't good for him. Maybe for some people it turns into plaques?? By comparison, my cholesterol is 146 and HDL is 97. So is the problem the bad fats I know he DOES eat (like I said, he sort-of follows the way we eat but also enjoys slices of pizza, ice cream, etc., not to mention he travels a lot and so eats in restaurants in hotels etc.).
Any other wisdom about dealing with young(ish) otherwise healthy people who have plaque in their arteries?
UPDATE #26
His score is way too close to that for comfort.He had the test done because he has the worst family history - men on both sides of his family have had triple or quadruple bypass surgeries by the age of 60 because of coronary heart disease. So he turned 40 and I made him go get a big physical and workup and now this. (I mean, I get that the whole point of getting the physical was to find this out now while maybe we can still do something about it, but he's also feeling so down about this - he thinks of himself as fit and healthy.
)Here are the things his doctor wants him to do:
1. Maintain weight. (My husband is a healthy weight)
2. Take 81 mg of aspirin per day.
3. Take 1000 mg of fish oil per day.
4. Exercise regularly. (My husband walks to/from the train every day and is active in the yard and garden, but he does not "work out".)
5. Start a cholesterol lowering drug in the class of statins (e.g., simvastatin) to be taken every day for the rest of his life.
My diet and the kids' diet is fairly traditional foods focused. All organic, mostly local, pastured meat and dairy etc. My husband does better than this than many men, but frankly has a long way to go diet wise. Compared to most people, he eats well, but I look at what he eats and see many improvements that need to be made.
Questions....
Can you reverse plaque on the arteries? How?
Are there any supplements or alternative treatments we should be looking at?
What is the deal with saturated fat and plaque on the arteries... we eat A LOT of staturated fat - in the form of grassfed milk and cheese, pastured beef etc. In fact, we only buy whole milk, real cheeses, etc. and I use pastured butter liberally in our cooking. I am now experiencing a lot of self-doubt that maybe all this fat isn't good for him. Maybe for some people it turns into plaques?? By comparison, my cholesterol is 146 and HDL is 97. So is the problem the bad fats I know he DOES eat (like I said, he sort-of follows the way we eat but also enjoys slices of pizza, ice cream, etc., not to mention he travels a lot and so eats in restaurants in hotels etc.).
Any other wisdom about dealing with young(ish) otherwise healthy people who have plaque in their arteries?
UPDATE #26
The instructions are on the label.
by Dr. Stephen Sinatra
: please keep it coming... lots to look into here.
Aspirin and statins are bad! Aspirin in particular is now thought of as bad to take daily. This is old advise. Statins are bad too. We just got my DH off them a year or so ago and he is much better. His cholesterol is down just due to changes in diet. Check out amazon for books on how bad statins are. There was a time article awhile back that talked about it as well.
