Type 2 diabetes is not a fast-track to a heart disease diagnosis

Type 2 diabetes is associated with higher risk of heart disease.

But Type 2 diabetes doesn’t cause heart disease.

That’s a subtle but very important distinction. Yet still, too many doctors decide to go ahead and treat their type 2 patients as if they already have heart disease.

Some doctors even prescribe cholesterol-lowering statin drugs to diabetes patients with normal cholesterol — simply based on the outdated belief that statins somehow magically prevent heart disease…

The good news is that even if you have type 2 diabetes, heart disease isn’t automatically in the cards for you.

And even better news: Just a few simple steps will help keep you out of the danger zone.

Sugar: your arteries’ archenemy

When your arteries are healthy, they’re supple, elastic, and able to expand and contract to move blood along efficiently.

And the inner lining of your arteries naturally creates nitric oxide (NO) — a powerful vasodilator that keeps your arteries flexible.

Unfortunately, NO has a formidable enemy: Chronic high blood sugar — a hallmark symptom of Type 2 diabetes.

In diabetes patients, this excess sugar disrupts the process required to produce NO. As a result,  your arteries don’t receive as much nourishing NO, which increases risk of high blood pressure and (over time) the narrowing of your arteries.

And that’s when your heart disease risk skyrockets.

But as I mentioned earlier, you can take matters into your own hands to prevent a heart disease diagnosis.

This important issue is one that Dr. Marc Micozzi addresses in his Heart Attack Prevention & Repair Protocol. He notes the deeply troubling reality that 85 percent of people with diabetes over the age of 65 die of either heart disease or stroke.

But he adds: “Contrary to popular belief, having Type 2 diabetes is NOT an automatic, mandatory sentence for cardiovascular disaster.”

He highlights the results of a recent study to help illustrate how diabetes patients can enjoy long lives without the fear of heart disease…

Blood sugar control brings insulin resistance into line  

According to a recent case-control study cited by Dr. Micozzi, two key factors keep diabetic patients safe from developing coronary artery heart disease.

Researchers recruited 76 patients who had been treated for type 2 diabetes for more than 10 years. Among patients who remained free from heart disease, two key characteristics stood out:

  1. Insulin resistance (IR) factor was less than 2.5 points.
  2. Level of albumin in the urine (microalbuminuria) was less than 20 mg/l.

Dr. Micozzi explains that albumin (protein) in the urine is a sign of diabetic kidney damage. “So by that measure,” he says, “absence of kidney damage meant absence of heart disease.”

And by the way, if you have type 2 diabetes, Dr. Micozzi advises that you ask your doctor to monitor your insulin resistance, kidney function, and albumin with regular urine and blood tests.

There’s one more significant result from the study Dr. Micozzi calls attention to:

“By contrast,” he says, “blood lipids (cholesterol) had ZERO effect on the development of heart disease. So this study presents even more evidence that, contrary to popular myth, cholesterol isn’t the main culprit for heart disease, even in diabetics.”

Taking control pays off

The most surprising finding from the study, according to Dr. Micozzi, is that over the years of observing these patients’ health markers, the differences in their fasting blood sugar and hemoglobin A1C (a long-term measurement of blood sugar) levels didn’t turn out to be significant when predicting heart disease.

“Of course,” he adds, “these patients were already being treated for Type 2 diabetes for at least 10 years. So common sense tells us these patients didn’t have UNCONTROLLED diabetes. Rather, they probably kept their blood sugar levels down through medical intervention. And the study shows, below that controlled level, there was no difference in the development of heart disease.”

Clearly, blood sugar control is an ideal way to significantly reduce your heart disease risk, so to that end, Dr. Micozzi recommends the following supplements to help support and maintain healthy blood sugar levels:

  • Alpha Lipoic Acid (ALA): 300 mg
  • Vitamin B6 (as pyridoxine): 100 mg
  • Berberine: 400-500 mg
  • Cinnamon: 1 gram (food quantity)
  • Coenzyme Q10: 150 mg
  • Vitamin D3: 10,000 IU

In addition, Dr. Micozzi also recommends the common diabetes drug, metformin — one of the only drugs that he ever recommends. Dr. Micozzi notes that metformin’s decades-long track record for safety is remarkably free of problems. But it’s also quite affordable (it’s generic) and highly effective in lowering blood sugar and hemoglobin A1C.

That said, Dr. Micozzi does offer one important caveat concerning a vitamin deficiency linked to metformin use. You can explore that detail at this link.

To learn more about the best nutritional, exercise, medical, and lifestyle interventions for a strong, healthy heart, refer to Dr. Micozzi’s Heart Attack Prevention & Repair Protocol. Click here to learn how this protocol can give you unparalleled heart protection, or to enroll today.