Hypertension, diabetes, and smoking are all noted contributing factors in heart disease, more specifically, coronary atherosclerosis.  However, mounting evidence points to a more specific contributor as a logical cause leading to many of the degenerative causes of health decline and aging.  Much like a piece of metal left to the elements which leads to an oxidative process called rust, so it seems that inflammation leads to internal oxidation; synonymous with internal rust.  This process leads to inflammatory processes at the level of the lining of arteries, thus initiating atherosclerosis, arterial plaque formation, or in the acute rapid sense, thrombogenesis or clot formation.   For years we have been told that cholesterol is the culprit leading to arterial narrowing and plaque formation.  Truthfully, cholesterol is only a player in a process initiated by inflammation, and really acts as a patching material the body uses to try and ward off the effects of inflammation on the artery lining.  Only after cholesterol is oxidized by inflammation does it begin plaque formation or thrombogenesis.  Without oxidation, cholesterol is the mother of all hormones on top of the hormone pyramid.  Without cholesterol the body would have no building blocks for the development of hormones.   Without cholesterol the building of nerve insulation and cortisol production would not be possible. Without cortisol the body wouldn't be able to respond to stress. So why should cholesterol, that was very beneficial to the body at 20 yrs of age, all of a sudden be dealing the death blow to the body at 45 years of age?  Inflammation is the reason.  Currently one of the better methods for measuring inflammation is a High Sensitivity Cardiac C-Reactive Protein, also known as hs Cardiac CRP.  HS CRP levels combined with high cholesterol and triglycerides (lipids)  is a bad combination. CRP activates the complement system and stimulates the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines, which makes it an extremely sensitive marker for inflammation especially microvasculitis. High levels are associated with a poor systemic endothelial vasodilatation. It is also much higher in persons with dementia.  CRP is very likely to be the most important prognostic marker available today.  In fact, CRP alone predicts overall and cardiovascular mortality.

 

Research has shown that men with elevated levels of CRP have a threefold increase in the risk of a future heart attack and a twofold increase in the risk of a future stroke.  AAL Reference Laboratories now offers an ultra-sensitive assay for C-Reactive Protein.  This extremely valuable inflammatory marker can help the clinician in the diagnosis and prognosis of cardiovascular disease.

 

    What about the risk with mildly to moderately elevated lipids and a normal to low CRP?  If no inflammation exists then is cholesterol elevation a risk?  Current forward thinking would really raise the question regarding this topic, especially as it applies to the risk-to-benefit decisions surrounding drug therapy.  Several nutritional manipulations can help in the blunting of inflammation. If it can be done through measures with less serious side effect profiles then why risk potential drug side effects such as rhabdomyolysis.  Further more, how many men taking statins have been told by their physician that statins lower testosterone levels?  Keep in mind that the master building block cholesterol caps the hormone cascade pyramid. It is regulated by a "thermostat-like" regulation system that throws more building blocks at a system that is lacking down line metabolic products.  So your body is throwing more cholesterol down stream at hormones that are deficient. Unfortunately the knee jerk reaction of dropping cholesterol with drugs is not always a prudent approach, especially in the circumstance of no inflammation. What is missed in the translation of lowering cholesterol, is that while lowering cholesterol in a sub population of patients with certain medical conditions, (i.e. Diabetics with a history of heart attacks), is that lowering cholesterol decreases the incidence of stokes from blood clot formation. What isn't mentioned with regularity is that lowering your cholesterol below 160 increases the risk of hemorrhagic stroke, a different form of stroke that results from blood vessel wall integrity becoming compromised due to low cholesterol contribution to phospholipids formation.

 

Take home point:  Ask your doctor to run a hs-Cardiac CRP with your yearly lipid panel so you may make a more informed decision about therapeutic approaches.

Natural means to approach lipid elevations and inflammation would include the following:

 

1-Gluccomannan 2 grams orally before each meal.

This is a fiber that aids in trapping lipid excess in the diet.

2-Omega 3 Fish Oil 3,000-4,000 mg per day

3-Vitamin C 2,000 mg per

4-Inositol Hexaniacinate-a safer form of niacin that also appears to help those who suffering from the undesirable niacin flush.