I was in a dentist's office waiting for my son and picked up an issue of Your Health, a free magazine used to promote local area doctors, dentist and medical professionals.  I thought this article by Dr. Weiss to be interesting in supporting several little known facts about heart disease and also stating in common terms what we have been promoting for years and that is that cholesterol is not the whole story.

In the United States, cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in men over 50 years old and in women over 55. Nearly one million Americans will die of heart disease this year; 2400 will die each day of cardiovascular disease, an average of one death every 36 seconds.

Clearly this is an area that is of concern to each of us.  Heart attacks usually result from the rupture of a plaque composed of cholesterol particles and inflammatory cells. When this rupture happens, the plaque expands to occlude a coronary artery, blocking the flow of blood to the heart muscle. Many of these ruptures happen in coronary arteries which were only minimally blocked by the plaque prior to the rupture.
When the coronary blood flow is blocked, the heart muscle is starved of oxygen and the tissue dies—a myocardial infarction. Obviously a person cannot survive if so much heart muscle dies that the heart cannot adequately pump blood to the rest of the body.

In recent years, many risk factors which favor the development cardiovascular disease have been reported. These include a family history of  premature coronary artery disease, tobacco smoking, hypertension, diabetes, obesity, and most famously elevated cholesterol levels.

Most patients are interested knowing how high their cholesterol is and want to get it as low as possible. And while there is nothing wrong with that, it is now clear that there are factors other than cholesterol that can lead to cardiovascular disease.

As many as 50% of people who have their first heart attack have a normal level of cholesterol level. So there are clearly other issues at play.

Important but lesser known risk factors in the development of heart disease, are inflammation, infections, diet, and lifestyle.

Many people have heard of CRP (C- reactive protein), which is a marker for inflammation in a person's body. An elevated CRP is an important risk factor for heart disease, and reducing an elevated CRP can reduce the likelihood of an heart attack even more so than lowering cholesterol. (Garey: This is one of the main reasons Res-Q 1250 works so well in prevention of heart attacks - Omega-3s have natural anti-inflammatory properties.)

A typical American diet rich in saturated fats and high glycemic foods as well as tobacco use, obesity, and insulin resistance, can cause the CRP to be elevated.

Chronic hidden infections in the body can also raise the CRP level. Infections which have to the development of cardiovascular disease include periodontal gum disease, respiratory infections including influenza, stomach infections (H Pylori) and even urinary infections.

Addressing each of these factors can lower CRP and thus the risk of heart disease.

Interventions to lower CRP include dietary modification, the use of Omega 3 fatty acids (fish oil), exercise, treating chronic infections, aspirin therapy, and statin drugs, which not only lower cholesterol but also reduce inflammation.

For many people, lifestyle and nutritional interventions can substantially reduce cardiovascular risk even without the use of more aggressive pharmacological treatments. Though the heavily marketed cholesterol lowering drugs can be life saving, there are other important safe and effective ways to reduce the risk of heart disease. 

Although I have not spoken with Dr. Weiss personally, based on this insightful article, I would recommend him and his practice since much of the preventative health philosophy seems to be employed here.