High cholesterol and blocked arteries are also the conventional explanation for why heart attacks occur.

Alas, there’s plenty of evidence refuting these notions. In his 2004 book, “The Etiopathogenesis of Coronary Heart Disease,”15 the late Dr. Giorgio Baroldi wrote that the largest study done on heart attack incidence revealed only 41 percent of people who have a heart attack actually have a blocked artery and, of those, 50 percent of the blockages occur after the heart attack, not prior to it.

This means at least 80 percent of heart attacks are not associated with blocked arteries at all. According to Dr. Thomas Cowan, a practicing physician, founding board member of the Weston A. Price Foundation and author of “Human Heart, Cosmic Heart,” three of the core, underlying issues that cause heart attacks are:

  1. Decreased parasympathetic tone followed by sympathetic nervous system activation — Common causes for this include chronic stress, poor sleep, high blood pressure, diabetes, a high-sugar, low-fat type of diet, smoking and factors that contribute to low mitochondrial function. (In my book, “Fat for Fuel,” I address a number of factors that suppress mitochondrial function, thereby leading to low sympathetic tone.)
  2. Collateral circulation failure (lack of microcirculation to the heart) — To understand how the blood flows to and through your heart, check out the Riddle’s Solution section on heartattacknew.com’s FAQ page.16 There, you’ll find detailed images of what the actual blood flow looks like.

Contrary to popular belief, blood flow is not restricted to just two, three or four coronary arteries (opinions differ on the actual number). Rather, you have a multitude of smaller blood vessels — capillaries — feeding blood into your heart, and if one or more of your main arteries get blocked, your body will automatically sprout new blood vessels to make up for the reduced flow.

In other words, your body performs its own bypass. According to Cowan, your body is “perfectly capable of bringing the blood to whatever area of the heart it needs, and as long as your capillary network is intact, you will be protected from having a heart attack.”

Not surprisingly, the same factors that cause low sympathetic tone also lead to loss of microcirculation. For example, smoking has a corrosive effect on microcirculation, not just in your extremities but also your heart. A high-sugar, low-fat diet, prediabetes and diabetes, and chronic inflammation also reduce microcirculation.

One of the most effective ways to encourage and improve microcirculation is physical movement, so chronic inactivity will also deteriorate your body’s ability to maintain healthy microcirculation.

Another highly effective and noninvasive treatment option that will help improve microcirculation to your heart is enhanced external counterpulsation (EECP). It’s a Medicare insurance-approved therapy, and studies show EECP alone can relieve about 80 percent of angina. EECP works by inflating compression cuffs on your thighs and calves that are synchronized with your EKG.

When your heart is in diastole (relaxed), the balloons inflate, forcing blood toward your heart, thereby forcing the growth of new capillaries. It’s a really powerful and safe alternative to coronary bypass surgery for most people. Rather than bypassing one or two large arteries, you create thousands of new capillary beds that supply even more blood than the bypassed vessels. To find a provider, visit EECP.com.17

  1. Lactic acid buildup in the heart muscle due to impaired mitochondrial function — In essence, angina is a symptom of poor mitochondrial function, causing a buildup of lactic acid that triggers cramps and pain. When this pain and cramping occurs in your heart, it’s called angina. The lactic acid buildup also restricts blood flow and makes the tissue more toxic.

Eventually, as the lactic acid continues to build up, it eventually starts interfering with the ability of calcium to get into the heart muscle. This in turn renders your heart unable to contract, which is exactly what you see on a stress echo or a nuclear thallium scan.

Article From: https://articles.mercola.com