Even Deadlier Than CANCER? (Here’s How to Beat It)

Dear Reader,

Most people I know are scared to death of getting cancer—and rightfully so. They hear the word cancer and think “death sentence.”

But there’s something out there more fatal than cancer—and it’s on the rise in the U.S.

I’m talking about heart failure.

According to a recent study published in the European Journal of Heart Failure, heart failure is more fatal than the most common types of cancer.

And by a huge measure.

Just 5 years after diagnosis, men with heart failure had a 64 percent greater risk of dying than men with prostate cancer. And women with heart failure had an 82 percent greater risk of dying than women with breast cancer.

This was no small study, either. It examined data from more than 56,000 people over an 11-year period.

Contrary to its name, heart failure does not mean your heart has failed altogether. Heart failure occurs when the heart isn’t pumping as well as it should be. The most obvious signs are shortness of breath and fatigue.

The reason heart failure is so deadly is because it doesn’t just impact your heart—it impacts your entire body. That’s because it’s your heart’s job to deliver oxygen- and nutrient-rich blood to the body’s cells.

Poor pumping means the body’s cells aren’t getting enough blood—and this includes the cells in all of your major organs. When they don’t get enough oxygen and nutrients, they eventually break down.

One key underlying reason for heart failure is something your doctor has likely never even talked to you about: your mitochondria. Mitochondria are our cells’ powerhouses. They’re responsible for converting the food you eat into usable energy that powers every single cell in your body.

The problem is that as we get older, mitochondria become damaged and don’t function as well, and they also decrease in number. This creates a critical energy deficiency that has been connected to virtually all degenerative diseases, including – you guessed it – heart failure.

The good news is that you can take proactive steps to improve both your mitochondria and your heart function.

• First, eat foods that are rich in electrons, such as healthy fats and fish. Your body actually strips the electrons from this food and delivers them to your mitochondria.

• Take a daily probiotic. This maintains a diverse microflora in your gut, which helps with the energy transfer from your food to your mitochondria.

• Have your testosterone and DHEA levels checked. I always test these levels on my patients with heart failure. If they’re low, bringing them up improves heart function.

• Last but not least, numerous supplements have been shown to help heart failure. Some of the most potent include CoQ10, hawthorn berry, carnitine, D ribose, and the amino acid taurine.

To a brighter day,

Dr. Richard Gerhauser, M.D.