Heart Disease
Heart disease is complex and a wide range of different factors can contribute towards it, however, cholesterol is not one of these factors.
So much emphasis, and so many resources, have been directed towards cholesterol. This has prevented us from obtaining a better understanding of what really does cause heart disease. The cholesterol idea is nothing more than a central dogma. It is clear that the 29 billion dollar cholesterol-lowering industry is not helping and is just inflicting drug adverse effects upon large numbers of people.
While we have been so focussed on our cholesterol levels, our blood glucose (sugar) levels have gone through the roof. High levels of blood glucose are just one of the many causes of heart disease but they do represent a real and significant increased risk. Large scale studies have shown that increased blood glucose levels cause as much heart disease as smoking cigarettes. It is unacceptable that people have not been told about this.
It is important to note that these increased risks (associated with higher levels of blood glucose) exist for all people and not just those people who have diabetes.
A More Accurate Description of Heart Disease
We are constantly told that cholesterol clogs up the arteries and causes a heart attack. This idea stems from an out-dated and inaccurate view of heart disease that the food industry and pharmaceutical companies would like us all to continue to believe.
Our arteries and blood vessels have a protective layer of cells along the inside. The first stage of heart disease often involves damage to these cells. Various substances can then pass through the protective layer and start to thicken the wall of the artery.
So heart disease involves tissue damage that occurs underneath the inside wall of arteries and blood vessels. Fats and cholesterol do not simply get stuck to the inside wall of the arteries as is commonly portrayed.
Once the initial tissue damage has occurred, the body reacts by sending various substances to the affected area.
A wide range of different molecules are found in the wall of an artery that has been damaged in this way. Yes, some fat and cholesterol are present, but along with a number of other substances, such as cells that are associated with inflammation and the immune system.
Fats and cholesterol at the site of injury should be of no surprise because fats and cholesterol are the substances the body uses to repair damaged cells.
In fact, when we look at the processes involved in heart disease it becomes immediately apparent that it is best described as an inflammatory condition.
Heart disease has been compared with rheumatoid arthritis, a condition that also has key inflammatory and immune system components.
The inflammation that occurs in heart disease is very similar to the type of inflammation we experience, for example, in the case of a sprained ankle joint, pulled muscle or other structural injury. In the case of a muscular skeletal injury, we are fully aware of its presence, and we know that if we rest the affected area or undertake appropriate treatment, it will normally repair itself.
However, in the case of tissue damage and inflammation in the arteries, we usually have no idea that it is taking place. Therefore, we may continue doing whatever is causing or aggravating the inflammation, until one day we start to experience symptoms or in the worse case, a heart attack.
There are a wide range of things that can cause or contribute to this type of arterial damage, in particular:
- High levels of stress/poor stress response
- Smoking cigarettes
- Wrong type of diet for YOUR metabolism
- Eating too many grain-based foods
- High blood glucose levels
- Eating too many refined foods and sugars
- Low thyroid function/adrenal gland exhaustion
- Hormonal imbalances
- Exercise: wrong type, not enough or too much
- Processed and de-natured foods
- Psychology: depression, negative attitude
- Lack of protective nutrients
- Excessive toxins
- Infection
- Lack of sleep
Inflammation is a local reaction to injury. Although it can occur almost anywhere in the body and can take many forms, the type of reaction is always the same.
When we develop a sore throat, microbes have proliferated in the tonsils causing local swelling. This inflammation of the tonsils is of course called tonsillitis.
If microbes get out of control in the appendix and cause swelling we call it appendicitis. Inflammation of the liver is called hepatitis, and of the joints is arthritis.
In my book $29 Billion Reasons to Lie About Cholesterol I coined the term coronary arteritis to describe heart disease. Although this may not describe the complete process, it does depict the condition in a more meaningful and accurate way than the simple "artery clogging" description.
The term coronary arteritis may encourage the investigation into alternative treatment protocols for heart disease, and help us to move-on from the out-dated and never proven idea that saturated fat and cholesterol cause the dsease.