cardiac risk | Central Illinois Natural Health Clinic

Fish Oil is Dead… or Is It?

If you’re a patient or a regular reader of my articles, you know that one supplement that I often recommend is fish oil — a good source of omega-3 fatty acids. These fats are essential to our health, because our bodies cannot make them from any other type of fat. The many benefits of omega-3 fats include:

Cardiovascular health benefits
Immunomodulation
Anti-inflammatory effects
Psychological and behavioral health improvement
Improved bone density

A large study published recently in the New England Journal of Medicine (1) has called into serious question the well-established cardiovascular benefits of fish oil.

More Good News for the Mediterranean Diet

For years, the standard nutritional advice for cardiovascular disease prevention has been to follow a low-fat diet. This is still the official recommendation of the American Heart Association. However, more and more evidence is pointing to the fact that it may be the quality, not quantity, of the fats we consume that is good for our hearts.

Is Vitamin D Good for the Heart or Not?

Based on much recent research linking low levels of vitamin D to increased risk of heart disease, this is something I measure in all of my older patients. If low, supplementation is simple, cheap, and can effectively raise those levels back up. This is especially important at this time of year, since the sun is not strong enough to produce any vitamin D from skin exposure at our latitude.

Top 5 “Myths” in Natural Medicine

As a doctor of naturopathic medicine, I have years of experience and training to respect the vis medicatrix naturae, or healing power of nature. This is foundational to our approach to health. I also have a background in science, and know that it is important to examine natural methods of health care to see if they are valid and effective.

Great Science on What We Should Eat

In recent years, medical researchers have recognized some common denominators in chronic degenerative diseases: insulin resistance, long-term inflammation, high blood pressure, and cholesterol imbalance (to name a few). In fact, several of these factors have been grouped together to form metabolic syndrome, a constellation of symptoms including at least 3 of the following 5 conditions:

Fasting blood sugar (glucose) ≥100 mg/dL
Blood pressure ≥130/85 mm Hg
Triglycerides ≥150 mg/dL
HDL-C (“good cholesterol”) <

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