The clinical application of metabolic therapy for cardiovascular disease

Abstract

Metabolic therapy involves the administration of a substance normally found in the body to enhance a metabolic reaction within the cell. This may be achieved in two ways. Firstly, for some systems a substance can be given to achieve greater than normal levels in the body so as to drive an enzymic reaction in a preferred direction. Secondly, metabolic therapy may be used to correct an absolute or relative deficiency of a cellular component. Thus, metabolic therapy differs greatly from most standard cardiovascular pharmacologic therapies such as the use of ACE Inhibitors, beta-blockers, statins and calcium channel antagonists that are given to block rather than enhance cellular processes.