The record for the largest drop in heart scan score (by percentage of starting score) has been held for around three years, with 63% reduction in score.
Well, the longstanding record was broken this week: 75% reduction in score.
At the start, Freddie has disastrous lipid values:
LDL cholesterol 263 mg/dl
HDL 26 mg/dl
Triglycerides 323 mg/dl
Total cholesterol 354 mg/dl
Lipoproteins (NMR) were worse:
LDL particle number 3360 nmol/L
Small LDL 2677 nmol/L
Heart scan score: 732
Interestingly, Freddie had virtually no vitamin D in his body, with a 25-hydroxy vitamin D level that was unmeasurable.
Freddie was miserably intolerant to statin drugs, with even the smallest dose resulting in intolerable muscle aches. That's when his doctor sent him to me.
Because I felt that the dominant abnormality in Freddie's lipids and lipoproteins was small LDL particles, representing 80% of total LDL particle number, we focused his program on correcting this parameter. Freddie's program was therefore focused elimination of wheat, cornstarch, oats, and sugars, along with an eventual vitamin D dose of 20,000 units to finally achieve a 25-hydroxy vitamin D level of 66 ng/ml. No statin drug in sight.
43 lbs of weight loss and 18 months later, a second heart scan score: 183--a 75% reduction.
While the rest of the world continues to insist that coronary calcium (heart scan) scores cannot be reduced, I am seeing records being broken. I add Freddie's experience to the rapidly growing list of people who have not just stopped coronary plaque from growing, but are seizing control and reducing it, sometimes to dramatic degrees.