Many experts believe calcification should be viewed as a contributor to the pathological aging process — but most of us are only familiar with its impact on our cardiovascular health.

Plaque buildup is made up of fat, cholesterol, calcium and other substances found in the blood. Over time, plaque hardens and narrows your arteries.

Coronary artery calcium (CAC) scores have become a non-invasive way for doctors to easily judge how much plaque has built up inside a patient’s coronary arteries by getting a CT scan of the patient’s heart. The more calcium deposited in the arteries, the higher the score.

Calcium usually starts to accumulate way before significant blockages develop. So obtaining a CAC score can help detect coronary artery disease very early — way before a stress test would signal a problem.

Still, there has been some question as to how accurate a CAC score is in identifying individuals at high risk of heart attack or death. A new study by researchers at Intermountain Health in Salt Lake City sought to answer that question…

Score zero is the goal

The researchers reviewed the electronic health records of 19,495 women and 20,523 men who had undergone PET/CT scans because their doctors suspected they were at risk of heart disease, but who hadn’t yet had a heart event such as a heart attack.

Of these patients, 7,967 had a CAC score of zero. This means they had no calcified plaque in their coronary arteries. Out of that group, women on average were older than men (60.5 years old versus 53.8 years old), which correlates to how women often develop heart disease later in life than men.

The study followed up on patients about two years later. They found a zero CAC score predicted a low risk for coronary death or nonfatal heart attacks in both men and women. Interestingly, CAC scores of zero were more often observed in women despite having an older average age.

The researchers also found those with a zero CAC had a three times lower risk of all-cause death or heart attack in both sexes.

“The coronary artery calcium score appears to be an excellent and accurate indicator of health and overall prognosis, even beyond heart disease,” says Jeffrey L. Anderson, principal investigator of the study and distinguished research physician at Intermountain Health.

Towards a good coronary artery calcium score

While zero is obviously an ideal CAC score, anything below a 10 has also been associated with very low cardiovascular risk in men over age 55 and women over age 60.

If you have had a coronary calcium test and your score is 10 or higher, there are several steps you can take to try to keep that number from climbing. It takes years for calcium to build up, so that gives you time to get serious about a heart-healthy diet and lifestyle.

Also focus on specific nutrients that support artery health:

Emerging evidence from animal and clinical studies has associated low vitamin K2 levels with calcification and an elevated risk of heart problems.

Ninety‐nine percent of bodily calcium is stored in bone, largely regulated by vitamin K2, with the remaining 1 percent circulating in the blood, muscle and other tissues.

But if vitamin K2 levels are low, it can disrupt the binding between calcium and osteocalcin (OC), a protein that helps with bone mineralization. This not only leads to the loss of calcium from bones, but it allows more rogue calcium to circulate to places where it can cause calcification.

In a study of 4807 subjects free from myocardial infarction at baseline and followed for 7 years, those with the highest tertile intake of menaquinone (vitamin K2) compared to the lowest, resulted in a significant risk reduction in coronary heart disease.

MK7, a bioavailable subtype of vitamin K2, can be found in foods such as cheese, beef liver, chicken, egg yolk and sauerkraut. A Japanese food called natto is the highest food source.

Increasing the amount of magnesium in your body lowers calcium levels. Foods rich in magnesium include almonds, cashews, chia seeds, peanuts and pumpkin seeds.

IP-6, or phytic acid, also inhibits calcification of the arteries by pulling calcium and other minerals out of places they should not be. A variety of seeds and nuts contain phytic acid, including almonds, cashews and sesame seeds.

Sources:

New study finds prognostic value of coronary calcium scores effective in predicting risk of heart attack and overall mortality in both women and men — EurekAlert!

How to Remove Calcium Deposits from Arteries Naturally — Preventative Diagnostic Center