Here are the details of my two heart scan scores, one recent, the other one and a half years ago.
February 2009:
August 2010:
To give some context, this group of patients given a whole bunch of treatments (“statin therapy, niacin, the American Heart Association Therapeutic Lifestyle Changes (TLC) diet, omega-3 fatty acids and vitamin D-3 supplementation”) meant to improve these scores managed, on average, about a 0% change in scores after 1-2 years of the treatments. Which is better than the usual 25%/year increase, but not as good as what happened to me.
I recently had a second CT scan for calcium scoring. The results were inconclusive but the research I performed indicated that the measurement error is significant enough to make serial CT useless unless there is a large difference in measurement, especially with scores as low as yours.
Another possible explanation for the reduced calcium in arteries is vitamin K2. An article in the September issue of Life Extension Magazine vitamin K2 keeps calcium out of arteries. Some vitamin K2 is created in the gut by fermentation of vitamin K1 in green vegetables. Some fermented foods such as cheese and a Japanese dish called natto are high in K2. The fermented foods you eat may explain the calcium reduction.
bill
Ed, what is “the research [you] performed that indicated that the measurement error is significant enough to make serial CT useless”?
The head of the center where I got my scans said she almost never sees decreases (“1 in 100″). This implies that measurement error is small compared to whatever is increasing the scores. If measurement error was large you’d see decreases half the time or even more (due to people with high scores being more likely to get a second measurement than people with low scores).
Bill, I ate a lot of fermented foods before my first score. It is possible that they lowered it to an average score — that my calcium score was on a downward trajectory that merely continued — but then it would be a coincidence that my first calcium score was so average. Still, I agree with you that that’s another good reason to eat fermented foods.