Topic summary contributed by volunteer(s): John and Dawn
Angina pectoris, or simply angina, is recurring heart muscle cramping from blockage of the arteries feeding the heart (coronary arteries). Angina represents early cardiovascular disease. An ‘attack’ of angina, signified by silent, mild or crushing chest pain, may turn into a full-blown heart attack, when part of the heart muscle dies.
To prevent angina attacks, doctors prescribe blood vessel-dilating medications (e.g., nitroglycerin tablets), which patients put under the tongue when an attack begins. ‘Nitro’ works by causing nitrate release that relaxes the coronary vessel muscular walls, letting more blood flow through, but it does not address the underlying cause of chest pain symptoms.
Dr. Dean Ornish demonstrated how simply putting cardiac patients on a quasi-vegan diet, without any change in their exercise regimens, could lower patients’ angina attacks by 90% within just 24 days. And while we know that plant-based diets can reverse heart disease, dissolve plaque, and open up arteries (in many instances without drugs or surgery), physicians themselves may be preventing their patients from choosing a plant-based diet. Why? Because they often assume their patients won’t have the discipline to make fundamental changes to their diet. What’s more, traditional medicine relies more on drugs than lifestyle modifications, even when patients are faced with a choice between surgery, which contains inherent risks, and drugs with serious potential side effects.
Blockage of the coronary arteries is a direct result of buildup of LDL cholesterol that comes from eating saturated and trans fats, cholesterol found in animal products and processed foods, and lack of fiber. A plant-based diet alone may prevent angina attacks and improve heart health, but even more may be achieved by also changing modifiable behaviors using lifestyle medicine. Adding an exercise program approved by one’s physician, for example, and implementing simple stress management techniques may minimize the risk of developing heart disease.
The information on this page has been compiled from the research presented in the videos listed. Sources for each video can be found by going to the video’s page and clicking on the Sources Cited tab.
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Most heart attacks are caused by nonobstructive plaques that infiltrate the entire coronary artery tree. There is no such thing as “1-vessel disease,” “2-vessel disease,” or “left main disease.” Atherosclerotic plaque is continuous throughout the coronary arteries of heart attack victims.
There are demonstrably no benefits to the hundreds of thousands of angioplasty and stent procedures performed outside of an emergency setting. They don’t prevent heart attacks, enable you to live longer, or even help with symptoms any more than placebo (fake) surgery.
Lifestyle approaches aren’t only safer and cheaper—they can work better, because they let us treat the actual cause of the disease.
In this “best-of” compilation of his last four year-in-review presentations, Dr. Greger explains what we can do about the #1 cause of death and disability: our diet.
Even without an exercise component, a plant-based diet can reduce angina attacks 90% within 24 days.
The improvement of arterial function on a whole food, plant-based diet appears so pronounced that cardiac patients can achieve a 90% reduction in angina attacks.
We finally discovered why a single high-fat meal can cause angina chest pain.
Because penile arteries are only about half the size of the coronary arteries in the heart, erectile dysfunction can be a powerful predictor of cardiac events—such as sudden death.
By preventing the buildup of cholesterol in our bloodstream, we can prevent atherosclerosis in our coronary arteries—the leading cause of death in the United States for both men and women. This involves increasing our intake of fiber-containing plant foods, and decreasing our intake of trans fat, saturated fat, and cholesterol found in junk food and animal products.
Atherosclerotic plaques in coronary arteries may be more aptly described as pimples, initiated by the infiltration of cholesterol into the lining of our arteries. The ending—should blood flow to our heart muscle be cut off by a clot formed by the rupture of one of these inflamed pockets of pus in our arterial lining—is a heart attack.
