NEW DELHI: A new drugless therapy that uses only diet control mediation and exercises clear blocked arteries that cause heart attacks.
The therapy described at the international symposium on preventive cardiology now underway here relies on lifestyle changes to actually reverse heart disease the first to do so without drugs.
The programme includes a low fat vegetarian diet restrain from smoking stress management training and moderate exercises. It was first used on a group of American patients with coronary artery disease.
The success of the initial trials have prompted doctors to conduct further trials in the US and Germany Larry Scherwitz research director in the American trials said at the symposium.
Arteries which carry blood from the heart can get clogged by deposits of fat which hamper normal blood flow causing heart attacks. Risk factors for clogged arteries include obesity high fat intake and smoking.
The experiment showed that the lifestyle changes induced clearing of arteries within a year. Even a small increase in the diameter of the artery means a tremendous increase in the blood flow Scherwitz said
Commenting on the mechanism by which the diet-exercise-mediation programme helps reverse heart disease Scherwitz said it seems to help leach out the cholesterol deposits in the arteries.
Article extracted from this publication >> January 25, 1991
