[Wide-O]

Yesterday, I accidentally happened upon a link that had been missing. Apart from the pun, I'm talking about the link between heart disease and inflammation.

I have read "The Inflammation Zone" twice now, to get a good handle on the whole subject, and started to follow the recommendations in that book. In short, Dr. Sears is about healthy food (he doesn't really want to call it a "diet"), mild exercise, relaxation, and... high doses of fish oil.

It all makes sense, but what isn't clear, is how actually inflammation causes heart disease - more so than cholesterol and "bad" LDL - and why statins (relevant to PN) don't really do the job.

Queue this link from a surgeon, who explains the link between inflammation and heart disease:

We physicians with all our training, knowledge and authority often acquire a rather large ego that tends to make it difficult to admit we are wrong. So, here it is. I freely admit to being wrong. As a heart surgeon with 25 years experience, having performed over 5,000 open-heart surgeries, today is my day to right the wrong with medical and scientific fact.

And:

I have peered inside thousands upon thousands of arteries. A diseased artery looks as if someone took a brush and scrubbed repeatedly against its wall. Several times a day, every day, the foods we eat create small injuries compounding into more injuries, causing the body to respond continuously and appropriately with inflammation.

Full text: http://www.sott.net/article/242516-H...-heart-disease

Apologies if you already read this, but for me it somehow confirmed that the advice on this forum is pretty healthy and accurate. I will continue to refuse to take statins, and will lower my cholesterol as a by-product of eating healthy, with the aim of fending off unneeded inflammation.