What Causes Heart Disease? Part 2

What Causes Heart Disease? 

If cholesterol is not the cause of heart disease, what are the causes? Many factors may contribute to cardiovascular disease. A properly performed hair mineral analysis can help identify a number of them. Here are some of the major factors suspected in cardiovascular disease. 

•  Klevay showed that copper deficiency is associated with atherosclerosis. Copper is required for connective tissue synthesis.
• Zinc deficiency reduces the flexibility of the arteries and causes hardening. It may also cause inflammation of the arterial walls.
• Magnesium and taurine deficiencies may contribute to high blood pressure and other heart problems. 
• Cadmium toxicity is associated with hardening of the arteries. 
•  Elevated homocysteine levels are a factor in heart disease. Homocysteine is an amino acid. Its level can be reduced by increasing the intake of vitamin B6 and folic acid. 
• According to Rath and Pauling’’s unified theory of heart disease, the causes are deficiencies of vitamin C and lysine. These are required for collagen synthesis. This theory asserts that high levels of lipoprotein-A, part of LDL cholesterol, is responsible for arterial damage.
• Other vitamins and minerals are involved. Chromium supplements, for instance, have been shown to lower cholesterol levels. Chromium, manganese and B-complex vitamins may reduce stress by enhancing carbohydrate metabolism. 
• Low thyroid activity is associated with heart disease. Hypothyroidism may have numerous causes, including nutritional deficiencies and toxic metal poisoning. 
• Inflammation and infections are now known to be important in cardiovascular disease. These can include seemingly unrelated infections such as dental infections. These can spread toxins that affect every organ. 
• High blood pressure from any cause is a factor. 
• Smoking, diabetes, obesity, coffee-drinking and a sedentary lifestyle are risk factors. 
• Oxidant damage from vegetable oils and other oxidant exposure contributes to vascular disease. This factor may explain why populations that consume more animal fats often have less heart disease. 
• Artificially-hydrogenated fats found in margarine, dressings, fried foods and elsewhere may contribute. 
• Chlorinated and fluoridated drinking water, and residues of ionic detergents may be an important factor. 
• Drinking homogenized milk may be harmful for the arteries.   
• Adelle Davis in Let’s Get Well noted that "animals and human volunteers that are fed sugar instead of unrefined carbohydrates develop high cholesterol levels". 
• Familial and genetic tendencies, and emotions such as hostility appear related to heart disease.  

Why Does Cholesterol Rise? 

Modern nutritional science reveals several important facts about cholesterol:

• High cholesterol can be a symptom of an imbalanced body chemistry. One can observe high cholesterol levels in vegetarians who consume no cholesterol at all.
•  Stress can increase cholesterol. Cholesterol is needed to make stress-fighting hormones such as cortisone and cortisol. A body under excessive stress (from internal or external sources) may produce extra cholesterol to increase the anti-stress hormones.
•  Cholesterol plaques may protect weak arteries to prevent breakage. 
• Cholesterol may in fact protect the body against free radical or oxidant damage. This theory was first advanced by Dr. Elmer Cranton in the book, Bypassing Bypass. This may be why high HDL which is non-oxidized cholesterol is positive, while LDL, which is oxidized cholesterol, is more of a risk for heart disease. In coping with oxidant stress, the HDL is oxidized, or converted to LDL. 
• Some people seem to have a familial tendency for elevated cholesterol.
• Excessive consumption of sugar can contribute to high serum lipid levels. 
• Fingerstick cholesterol tests are among the least accurate medical tests. Always have such tests repeated. 
•  HDL and LDL levels are as important or more important than total cholesterol. A simple cholesterol reading is not too revealing.
  

What About Dietary Fat? 

There are many points to be considered. For example, the egg was indicted as a major cause of elevated cholesterol based on studies in the 1940s and 1950s. However, it turned out that in those studies powdered eggs were used.(10) These processed eggs contain oxidized cholesterol, the type known to cause problems. However, when the studies were repeated with fresh eggs, they did not raise cholesterol significantly.(11) However, many physicians and health authorities still quote the old studies. 

Also on the subject of eggs, it has been found that eggs from chickens that are allowed to run free, so-called cage-free eggs, have less cholesterol. This means the way our food is produced influences its nutritional content. 

There are many different types of fats. Studies have shown that a diet high in fish, which contain anti-inflammatory fats, can reduce heart disease.(12) 

In nutritional research, there are different body types. Some handle fats much better than others. Those whom Dr. Paul C. Eck called fast oxidizers require some fats and oils to help normalize body chemistry. Slow oxidizers, by contrast, do poorly on fats. This fact alone means that studies that look at the effects of fats on large groups are flawed unless they take into account different body chemistries. 

This can help account for divergent results of studies, some of which show no ill effect of fats, while others show that saturated fats, for example, are not healthy. Thus, the idea of metabolic types can be most helpful to assess the effects of fats on any particular person. Let us explore this is more detail.

References:

10. Cook, R.P., Cholesterol: Chemistry, Biochemistry, and Pathology, Academic Press, NY, 1958.
11. Passwater, R., Super Nutrition for Healthy Hearts, Deal Press, NY 1977. See also Flynn, M.A. et al, Effects of Dietary Egg on Human Cholesterol and Triglycerides, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 32 (May 1979) pp. 1051-1057.

12. Wright, J., M.D., Dr. Wright’s Book of Nutritional Therapy, Rodale Press, Emmaus, Pa. 1979.