Monday’s Book Excerpt from Lessons from the Miracle Doctors

"What causes damage or inflammation to the arterial walls? As it turns out, several things.

• High homocysteine levels -- Homocysteine is an amino acid produced as a normal byproduct of the breakdown of methionine (from proteins), which is an essential amino acid acquired mostly from eating meat. Homocysteine generates superoxide and hydrogen peroxide radicals, both of which have been linked to damage of the endothelial lining of arterial vessels. Studies have shown that too much homocysteine in the blood is related to a higher risk of coronary heart disease, stroke, and peripheral vascular disease.

• Too much omega-6 fatty acid in the diet -- The body converts linoleic acid, the primary fatty acid found in bottled vegetable oil, to arachidonic acid. The COX-2 enzyme then converts the arachidonic acid to the hormonelike prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) and to the cytokines interleukin-1 (IL-1), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFa), all of which promote inflammation in the body in general and in the arterial walls in particular. If you can’t remember all of the biochemicals just mentioned, don’t worry about it. All you have to remember is that excess consumption of most vegetable oils leads to inflammation of your arterial walls.

• High levels of grain-fed meats in the diet -- Eating high levels of meats and animal fat from grain-fattened animals saturates the body with large amounts arachidonic acid--the same as with vegetable oils. As a point of interest, the high levels of arachidonic acid found in most meat are accumulated from the conversion of omega-6 fatty acids present in the grains used to fatten them. That means that only minimal levels of arachidonic acid are found in range-fed beef. If you can find it, range-fed or grass-fed beef is far healthier for you than the more common grain-fed variety.

• High acid diets -- Diets high in meat, sugar, grains, and starch raise acid levels in body tissue, thereby making it hard for the body to clear the lactic acid that builds up in muscle tissue from normal muscle activity. This is a major factor and is a particular problem for arteries, since the arterial wall contains significant amounts of muscle tissue (again, veins do not) so that they can contract to maintain blood pressure when changing body position (from lying down to suddenly standing up, for example). The problem is that when the acid doesn’t clear from the arterial muscle tissue, it irritates, inflames, and scars the inside lining of the arterial wall adjacent to the muscle tissue.

• High levels of circulating immune complexes in the blood -- Circulating immune complexes (CICs) are created when you eat complex proteins (usually from wheat, corn, and dairy) that cannot be digested thoroughly. They make their way into the bloodstream, where they are treated as allergens by the body and combined with antibodies, thus forming CICs. When the number of CICs climbs beyond the ability of the body to eliminate them, they are deposited in the body’s soft tissues, including the muscle tissue in the arterial walls, thereby triggering attacks by the body’s immune system, resulting in inflammation.

• Inflammation in general -- C-reactive protein (CRP) is an inflammatory marker, a substance that the liver releases in response to inflammation somewhere in the body. Studies indicate that men with high levels of CRP have triple the risk of heart attack and double the risk of stroke compared to men with lower CRP levels. In women, studies have shown that elevated levels of CRP may increase the risk of a heart attack by as much as seven times. The statin medicines (such as Lipitor® and Zocor®) reduce levels of CRP, which may be more significant in accounting for the ability of these drugs to lower heart disease risk than the role they play in lowering cholesterol. But there are far healthier ways to lower systemic inflammation-- proteolytic enzymes, as we discussed earlier, are a good example."

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