Heart disease is one of the leading illnesses that healthcare providers encounter in the field. In fact, it’s one of the leading causes of death in both Canada and the United States – but it’s also preventable in many cases. If you choose to pursue a holistic nutrition diploma study program online here at Edison Institute Of Nutrition, you’ll learn about how to use a holistic nutrition approach to help manage heart disease.
Once you graduate and enter nutritionist private practice, clients may seek your support with their heart health for a range of reasons, including:
- To recover from a recent cardiac event
- To improve heart health and function after receiving a heart disease diagnosis
- To take early steps to prevent heart disease where a family history or other risk factors exist
Tending to the relationship between nutrition and heart health can improve function, longevity, and quality of life.
Keep reading below to find out more about heart disease, its symptoms, and its causes.
What Is Heart Disease?
In Canada, heart disease is the second leading cause of death for adults.
In the United States, that number is even higher – it’s the leading cause of death for American adults, causing one in five deaths.
Types Of Heart Disease
Heart disease isn’t just a single condition.
Heart disease is an umbrella term that covers several conditions that affect the health and proper function of the heart.
Let’s take a look at some of the different types of heart disease you may encounter as a holistic nutritionist.
Atherosclerosis
Atherosclerosis is the hardening of the walls of the arteries.
This only occurs in arteries, never in veins.
Digestion works by breaking down nutrients in your food, which are then carried through your arteries and bloodstream to the place where they’re most useful.
Over time, however, cholesterol, trans fats and other unhealthy fats, and calcium can build up in your arteries, creating plaque.
As it builds, plaque causes your arteries to harden, making it harder for the arterial walls to expand and contract and deliver oxygen to various organs and tissues, including muscles like the heart.
Symptoms Of Atherosclerosis
Atherosclerosis symptoms can include pain, weakness, and neurological issues.
Pain can occur anywhere that an artery has become blocked.
This might look like chest pain, angina, pain in and arm or leg, or cramping in the buttocks when walking.
Weakness and fatigue may occur when muscles, lungs, and other parts are not receiving enough oxygen.
Look out for shortness of breath, fatigue, and muscle weakness in your legs.
If the blockage affects your brain, you may feel neurological issues including confusion, loss of motor control, or loss of sensory function.
What Causes Atherosclerosis?
Plaque typically builds up on arterial walls gradually over decades.
This causes them to become progressively narrower, and so constricted that they can trigger a heart attack or stroke.
Where does this come from?
You might think it’s from a high fat, high cholesterol diet, but not quite.
Cholesterol levels tend to raise more in response to dietary sugars, caffeine, and alcohol than they do in response to dietary fats or cholesterol.
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In fact, cholesterol has gotten a bad rap over the years.
It’s a vital bodily substance, and in fact your body produces most of the cholesterol you need on its own.
Only about 20% comes from your diet, and the less you eat the more your body will produce to make up for it.
However, there are two different types of cholesterol.
There’s LDL – low density lipoprotein – and HDL – high density lipoprotein.
LDL is sometimes referred to as “bad cholesterol”.
When you have a damaged artery, your body sends LDL and blood cells (especially macrophages) together in tandem to the site of damage to repair it.
They’re not the cause of the damage.
Macrophages are part of your body’s immune system.
They’re scavenger cells, clearing your blood of diseased cells, cellular debris, and other pathogens.
Your body uses them to dispose of arterial cells that have become damaged.
If you don’t get enough soluble fibre in your diet, this can also leave your body without the tool it needs to break down LDL and eliminate the excess, which will build up in your arteries.
High LDL levels can also be caused by:
- Lack of physical activity
- Smoking
- Elevated kidney function from diabetes
- A diet high in trans fats
- A diet high in polyunsaturated fats
- A diet high in rancid fats and deep fried foods
The quality of fats you eat can significantly affect arterial health.
So other than this, what other factors are at work?
Vitamin C deficiency is one.
Without enough Vitamin C, your body can’t produce enough LPL (lipoprotein lipase) to prevent excess fats and cholesterol from building up in your arteries.
High blood sugar is another factor, which can happen with type 2 diabetes as well as a precursor to it.
When you have high blood sugar, it accelerates free radical damage, which, combined with homocysteine, can further aggravate your artery walls.
Heart Arrhythmias
Arrhythmia is a heartbeat that doesn’t follow a typical pattern or pace.
There are a number of different types of arrhythmias, including:
- Tachycardia, a heartrate over 100 beats per minute
- Bradycardia, a heartrate that is under 60 beats per minute
- Ventricular arrhythmia
- Supraventricular (atrial) arrhythmia
- Premature heartbeat
Symptoms Of Heart Arrhythmias
Common signs of arrhythmia include:
- A very fast heartbeat
- Feeling like your heart missed a beat (not in a romantic way!)
- A slow or uneven heartbeat
- A trembling feeling in your chest or neck
In some cases, an arrhythmia can also be present but show no signs.
What Causes Heart Arrhythmias?
There are a number of different causes of heart arrhythmias.
Physical causes include:
- Atherosclerosis
- Diabetes
- High blood pressure
- Dehydration
- A disorder with your thyroid hormones
- Sleep apnea
- Anemia
Lifestyle factors that can contribute to an arrhythmia include alcohol consumption, smoking, coughing, and lack of exercise.
Medications for blood pressure, depression, allergies and colds are also known to cause arrhythmia.
If you feel strong emotions like anger or fear, it may cause a brief arrhythmia, but that’s generally not cause for concern.
But if you feel these chronically, it can cause larger issues.
Coronary Artery Disease
Coronary artery disease, also called coronary heart disease, is the most common form of heart disease.
With coronary artery disease, your arteries can’t deliver enough blood to your heart.
If left untreated, this can lead to a heart attack and can be fatal.
Symptoms Of Coronary Artery Disease
In some cases, you might not feel any symptoms until you experience a heart attack.
If you do, you may feel:
- Strong chest pain
- Tightness or heaviness in your chest
- A burning or squeezing sensation
- Shortness of breath
- Nausea and vomiting
- Pain in your jaw or back
It’s interesting to note that these symptoms can vary by gender – women tend to experience nausea and jaw/back pain more often than men.
What Causes Coronary Artery Disease?
Most of the time, coronary artery disease is caused by atherosclerosis, which we talked about above.
In rare cases, blockages in the arteries are the result of other issues, such as:
- An embolism – when part of a blood clot breaks off and blocks your artery
- An aneurysm – when a section of your artery expands abnormally, preventing proper blood flow
- Artery vasculitis – when your artery becomes inflamed and shrinks the passage
- Coronary artery dissection – when your inner arterial layer tears and blood begins to flow outside where it ought to
Cardiomyopathy
Cardiomyopathy is weakening of your heart muscle over time.
There are 4 general types of cardiomyopathy:
- Dilated cardiomyopathy – when your heart becomes enlarged and may become too weak to pump blood sufficiently
- Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy – when your heart walls become thickened, leading to decreased blood flow and stiffness
- Arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia (ARVD) – when fat and fibrous tissue replace your heart’s muscle tissue in the right ventricle, causing arrhythmias
- Restrictive cardiomyopathy – when your heart ventricles become stiff and can no longer release to pull blood into the heart
Symptoms Of Cardiomyopathy
In cases of cardiomyopathy, your heart is unable to move blood through your body properly, leading to pooling of fluids and decreased flow of oxygen to various parts of the body.
This can cause symptoms of:
- Chronic fatigue
- Dizziness or fainting spells
- Shortness of breath
- Chest pain
- Coughing when you lie down
- High blood pressure
- Abdominal bloating
- Edema — swelling in your feet, legs, ankles, or other extremities
What Causes Cardiomyopathy?
In some cases, cardomyopathy is genetic – that is, inherited from family.
In others, it can be caused by coronary artery disease, heart attack, or a heart muscle infection.
In most cases, however, the cause of cardiomyopathy is unknown.
Factors that increase your likelihood of cardiomyopathy include:
- Family history of heart disease
- Chronic high blood pressure
- Diabetes
- Thyroid disease
- COVID-19 infection
- Long term drug abuse
Heart Infections
A heart infection, or infective endocarditis, happens when bacteria or fungi multiply inside the inner lining of your heart, the endocardium, causing it to swell.
Symptoms Of Heart Infections
The signs and symptoms of heart infection can vary greatly from person to person.
These are influenced by your general heart health, what type of infection you have, and how long it’s lasted.
Some possible symptoms include:
- Heart murmur
- Pale skin
- Chills or fever
- Coughing and shortness of breath
- Nausea, loss of appetite, or unintentional weight loss
- Swelling in the feet, legs, or belly
- A full or heavy feeling in your upper left abdomen
- Night sweats
- Muscle pain or joint pain
What Causes Heart Infections?
Heart infections occur when bacteria or fungi get into your heart through your bloodstream and multiply inside it.
These pathogens can also get into your bloodstream due to gum disease or poor oral hygiene, through cuts or abrasions in the mouth, when using contaminated needles, or via a catheter.
We ingest these things every day by eating, drinking, and touching our eyes, nose or mouth, but in most cases your immune system takes care of it.
Sometimes, however, your immune system fails to catch all of it or doesn’t fight it quickly enough.
Contact Edison Institute Of Nutrition Today
Heart disease is one of the most widespread health concerns today, impacting people across gender, ethnicity, and age boundaries.
If you, or someone you love, has been impacted by heart disease, consider a career in holistic nutrition to learn how you can help them stay healthy.
Here at Edison Institute of Nutrition, we offer a variety of programs and continuing education courses for holistic nutritionists, including:
- How to run a nutritional consulting practice
- Metabolic balance training
- Advanced nutrition practice
- Live and dry blood cell microscopy training for holistic practitioners
- And much more
Contact us today to learn more about the courses we offer, and find the right fit for you.
