Heart disease is the number-one killer in the world. Despite ever-advancing medical procedures and more and more powerful pharmaceutical drugs, the rate of heart disease continues to rise.
According to Dr. Stephen Hussey, this is due in part to misunderstandings about how the heart really functions and how to keep it healthy. These misunderstandings result in improper medical approaches and off-target intervention therapies.
As a type 1 diabetic, Dr. Hussey has always known that he was at two to four times greater risk of developing heart disease. As a result, he has dedicated his entire adult life to understanding the heart, to prevent himself from becoming a statistic.
And then his worst nightmare came true. Dr. Hussey suffered a “STEMI,” a blockage in the left anterior descending artery of his heart. STEMIs are typically so fatal that they are known as “widowmakers.” Only 12 percent of those who experience them outside of a hospital setting survive.
Dr. Hussey was among the lucky 12 percent, but faced a difficult decision during his recovery: follow the standard of care laid out for him by the attending cardiologist, or politely decline and apply everything he’d learned about the heart to a recovery protocol that would look massively different than what the doctors were recommending.
In Understanding the Heart, Dr. Hussey shares the information that guided him through the highest-stakes decision of his life, including:
A large body of research suggesting that the heart is not the main mover of blood in the body, and what that means for your overall health
The evolutionary origins of the nervous system, and how these manifest today in rampant rates of heart disease
Deep analysis of the widely accepted idea that saturated fat and cholesterol will clog your arteries
The importance of reducing oxidative stress for a heart healthy lifestyle
In Understanding the Heart, Dr. Stephen Hussey lays bare everything he has learned in his deep investigation into the heart, and guides you on a path to prevent disease in the context of a highly diseased modern world in order to enjoy lifelong good health.
A quote from Dr Stephen Hussey DC, MS book, Understanding the Heart:
"It’s also important to understand that the “normal ranges” of LDL cholesterol have changed over the years. In 1984, the NIH (National Institute of Health) held a conference with the goal of coming to a consensus on whether cholesterol was good or bad.[i] As a result of their incorrect conclusion that it was bad, an organization called the National Cholesterol Education Program (NCEP) was created to educate doctors on how to define and treat their at-risk patients. Unfortunately, the NCEP’s definition of “normal” started being heavily influenced by drug companies who profit from doctors using LDL lowering drugs.[ii] As the recommendation for what a healthy LDL is became lower and lower at subsequent meetings of the NCEP, the bigger the market for LDL lowering medications. At first, it was supposed to be no higher than 250. Then they lowered it to 200. Then 150, then 100, now they say it needs to be under 100. To me this suggests we have lost a true understanding of what “normal” is. For what it’s worth, a 2020 study looked at the association of cholesterol levels and all-cause mortality and found that having LDL cholesterol between 117 mg/dL and 137 mg/dL (above the recommendation of lower than 100) associated with the lowest all-cause mortality and that lower than 84 mg/dL associated with the highest all-mortality.[iii]"
[i] The national institutes of health (NIH) consensus development program: Lowering blood cholesterol to prevent heart disease (7). (1984). National Institutes of Health. https://consensus.nih.gov/1984/1984Cholesterol047html.htm
[ii] Kolata, G. (1985). Heart panel's conclusions questioned. Science, 227(4682), 40-41. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.3880617
[iii] Zhou, L., Wu, Y., Yu, S., Shen, Y., & Ke, C. (2020). Low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and all-cause mortality: Findings from the China health and retirement longitudinal study. BMJ Open, 10(8), e036976. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2020-036976
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