Coronary heart disease (CHD) is the most common form of heart disease and leading cause of death in Western World.

In the United States alone it’s estimated that there are over 17.5 million people living with coronary heart disease and that it’s responsible for 1 in 6 deaths - that equates to over 400,000 deaths a year. And not only is coronary heart disease costly in human terms, it also places a huge financial burden on health care systems around the world. For example, in the UK it is estimated that the annual National Health Service treatment costs for coronary heart disease exceeds £2 billion!

Standard treatment, apart from the usual advice concerning diet, lifestyle, smoking habits etc., is generally based on what could be termed the coronary obstruction theory as to why coronary heart disease develops and leads to angina and heart attack. This theory is deceptively simple. It is based on the idea that coronary arteries become narrowed and blocked either partly or fully through the development of artherosclerotic plaque.

Artherosclerotic plaque is a sticky substance that forms along the inside of arterial walls. Usually arterial walls are smooth and unobstructed to allow the free flow of blood but if they become damaged through injury or disease, plaques can develop. Plaques consist of a collection of connective and elastic tissue materials, cholesterol crystals, calcium, cell debris and smooth muscle cells which gradually accumulate over time. As they accumulate, so the plaques grow in size and the artery walls lose elasticity and harden - a condition known as artherosclerosis (also known as hardening of the arteries). The growing plaques also cause the affected arteries to narrow.

Narrowing of the coronary arteries inevitably means that less oxygen rich blood can reach the heart. Without an adequate supply of oxygenated blood the heart is unable to work properly.

If your coronary arteries are narrowed or blocked to such an extent that not enough oxygen-rich blood is flowing to an area of your heart muscle, you are likely to experience angina - chest pain or discomfort which may also be felt in the shoulders, arms, neck, jaw, or back.

If a coronary artery becomes completely blocked by the build up of plaque, the blood flow is stopped entirely. The affected area of heart muscle will die and you will have a heart attack (myocardial infarction). Atherosclerotic plaques can also split open - triggering the formation of blood clots that in turn can cause a sudden arterial blockage. Small pieces of plaque can also sometimes become dislodged - which again can block arteries.

Coronary heart disease gradually weakens the heart muscle which can result in heart failure (where the heart is no longer able to pump enough blood around the body) or arrhythmias (problems with the speed/rhythm of the heartbeat).

Although the coronary obstruction theory makes a good deal of sense, it does not appear to be able to account for why, despite all the advances in our knowledge and treatment protocols, people keep developing and dying from coronary heart disease in such alarming numbers.

An alternative theory as to why people develop heart disease was proposed by German doctor Berthold Kern (1911-1995) - and it his theory that is the key to the successful use of Strodival as an alternative treatment for heart problems.

Dr Kern’s theory is not new. During the 1930’s and 1940’s, while performing autopsies, he noticed that many of the deceased did not conform to the coronary obstruction theory of myocardial infarction i.e. they may have died from a heart attack but their heart attack was not due to arterial blockages that had developed from artherosclerosis. He began to research alternative propositions and in 1971 in a paper entitled “Three Ways to Cardiac Infarction” he set out his alternative theory. He hypothesised that rather than be due to coronary obstruction, many heart attacks did in fact occur as a result of unchecked metabolic acidosis in the left ventricular tissue of the heart.

Metabolic acidosis describes the situation when there is a pH imbalance in the body and too much acid accumulates. Unfortunately, metabolic acidosis can trigger destructive processes. Dr Kern’s theory is based on the fact that metabolic conditions in the most healthy of hearts are, at best, marginal with oxygen and energy requirements always being perilously close to available supplies. If an oxygen/energy deficiency arises then, in order to produce energy in the cells, a process known as zymosis (or fermentation metabolism) is triggered. The problem is that zymosis lowers the pH balance - in other words metabolic acidosis occurs as conditions become too acidic.

These acidic conditions set off a destructive chemical process within the heart muscle cells known as apoptosis - quite literally a programmed cell death whereby cells self digest. Initially apoptosis starts as a single point within the heart muscle but eventually it occurs at many different points until all the points join together and form a small area of dead (necrotic) tissue. Ultimately a critical mass is reached (which is only about the size of a pin head) and this triggers larger and larger areas of tissue damage, until eventually a heart attack occurs.

But not only did Dr Kern postulate unchecked acid accumulation as the main cause for heart attack, he also stated that with the regular, clinical use of oral g-strophathin (a.k.a. Strodival), this lethal myocardial tissue acidosis could be prevented thereby substantially reducing the number of people suffering and dying from heart attack as well as being able to stop angina symptoms within minutes of administration.

What’s more, studies have proven out Dr Kern’s theory, quite apart from the 5,000 or so German doctors who prescribe Strodival and report overwhelmingly positive results. For example, in one study that is often cited took place in a coal mine in Germany. The mine was a two hour drive away from medical help and during the period 1972-1974 miners suffered 229 incidents of acute chest pains which resulted in 11 deaths. However, from 1975-1980, all miners who experienced such chest pain (280 incidents), were given oral (Strodival) treatment immediately. No miners died during this period even though it was twice as long as the comparison period!

Other studies have also demonstrated Strodival’s remarkable ability to treat heart attack and prevent symptoms from progressing as well as its incredible effects on alleviating angina. For example in a study involving 150 seriously ill heart patients, who between them had experienced 254 heart attacks, oral g-strophanthin (Strodival) treatment was found to be successful in 85% of the cases with symptoms of severe heart attack disappearing completely within ten minutes at the latest following the administration of oral g-strophanthin! In another study, Strodival produced complete remission from angina symptoms in 81% of the study patients.

So just what is Strodival? Well, it belongs to the same family of drugs as the much better known heart medication digitalis/digoxin. And just like digitalis/digoxin, Strodival is a plant extract - only whereas digitalis/digoxin comes from the foxglove plant, Strodival’s active ingredient is from an African plant called strophanthus gratus (also known as climbing oleander, ouabain or in German g-Strophanthin).

The effects of the strophanthus gratus plant extracts on the heart are such that in Africa they were used to make poisoned arrow heads but, as Dr Kern demonstrated, when used as the active ingredient in an oral treatment, their effects on protecting and treating the heart are almost unparalleled. Indeed, during the period 1947-1968 Kern treated over 15,000 patients in this way with remarkable success - during this time there were only 20 non-fatal heart attacks and there were no reported deaths! By contrast, if the group had followed predictive trends, there should have been 120 fatal heart attacks and over 400 non-fatal attacks. Despite this almost unbelievable record of success, Dr Kern’s work has gone largely unnoticed outside Germany.

So if you have concerns over your heart health, ask your healthcare provider about Strodival as the evidence speaks for itself.