subject: An Alternative Arteriosclerosis Model [print this page] Its difficult to say exactly how arteriosclerosis occurs. Medicine studies the composition and structure of atheromatic plaques found in patients and concludes how it is formed. Cholesterol is supposedly the causing factor, since atheromatic plaques are rich in cholesterol. It must be cholesterol for sure. Further experiments test the hypothesis and yes it is! Although minimally associated with the development of atherosclerosis, it does explain it. There have been spent a few billions on this anyway so we cannot possibly change the whole theory now, it would be too disturbing. Therefore experiments validate the present theory. They must.
Recent studies tested more molecules and conditions that could play a significant role in the development of atherosclerosis. The results are pretty amazing: human studies showed that elevation of blood homocysteine is found to be a greater risk factor (22-40 fold) than elevated cholesterol (1.2 3.1 fold), high blood pressure (8-18 fold) or cigarette smoking (3.5 fold). But this is not convenient for the medical community because they would have to re-assess and possibly discard most of the beliefs modern therapy of atherosclerosis is based on. Big pharmaceutical companies would also lose billions from potential profits if such a new attitude was to be adopted. In fact there have been many studies clearly indicating that the cholesterol hypothesis is not very well explaining how atherosclerosis occurs. Key points of this theory cannot be explained by mainstream medicine. But this is considered insignificant.
Back in the 70s a great medical researcher form Harvard Medical School managed to prove that homocysteine is the main factor that causes atherosclerosis. The pieces of the puzzle were already there and he managed to connect them and see the whole picture. Of course cholesterol is a big part of the story but it is not the cause of arteriosclerosis. It is a secondary effect. Damaged arterial cells accumulate cholesterol. Homocysteine is a natural by-product of protein metabolism, can be toxic if it remains in the human body and is therefore excreted with urine, under normal conditions. When certain criteria are met (and this happens quite often indeed) it accumulates in the liver tissues, reacts with cholesterol and a highly toxic product is released in the blood which causes damage in the artery cells. The simplicity of this mechanism has been verified in many research projects and also opens the way for the real cure of arteriosclerosis. If homocysteine is the causing factor then all we need is to help our liver metabolize it so that it is safely flushed away with the urine. Just like it is supposed to do. Specific vitamins (B6, B12 and B9) fortify the enzymes responsible for the above reactions and literally can reverse this debilitating disease without any toxic drugs. Even before the 70s, publications had shown that these vitamins play a major cardioprotective role. Today, there are serious research projects confirming just that but still mainstream medicine is blind and deaf to this pioneering work.
The standard prescription for lowering blood cholesterol levels is statins. Statins are extremely toxic drugs, have not been properly tested in humans and literally cannot offer any protection against heart attacks and strokes. The fact that medicine cannot provide a sound explanation and cure becomes the patients' discomfort. By the way, statins make many billions of profit for the pharmaceutical companies that produce them per year. It doesn't surprise me that they are still used despite the horrific side effects. People should know what their choices are. Statins are not the only way.
