Summer was the busiest and best season for Ken, the owner of a small-engine repair shop nestled in North Carolina’s hills. But Ken’s long hours and hectic schedule were interrupted—permanently. At age 46, overweight and a smoker, Ken’s first symptom of heart trouble was his last—he fell victim to a sudden, fatal heart attack. Ken had been confident he didn’t have a “plumbing problem” with his arteries. After all, he never experienced classic signs of clogged vessels such as chest pain or shortness of breath.
Ken’s story is not uncommon. Although many people think heart attacks occur when arteries become progressively narrowed by cholesterol, a large body of research suggests this occurs less than 30 percent of the time.1 Instead, most heart attacks and many strokes originate from relatively small but unstable fatty deposits in arteries known as plaques. When these arterial plaques rupture, they release a witches’ brew of compounds that can rapidly create artery-obstructing—and potentially life-threatening—clots.
Although health educators of yesteryear often invoked imagery of household plumbing to describe arteries and blood flow, these vessels actually bear little resemblance to your home’s inert water conduits. Arteries in reality are living tissues that contain powerful chemicals involved in immune function, inflammation, clotting, and more.2
The most prevalent disease of these living tissues is atherosclerosis, once called “hardening of the arteries.” But it actually involves more than “hardening” (sclerosis). Atherosclerosis also involves an “athero,” or “mushy,” fat component. In fact, the process begins when fats (such as cholesterol) move from the blood into the lining of the blood vessels. These fatty deposits then trigger a slowly evolving cascade of inflammation.
When working correctly, acute (short-term) inflammation activates the body’s immune system and rebuilding mechanisms to help us heal from injury. Desirable inflammation occurs with things as common as a twisted ankle or paper cut—or as unusual as major trauma or surgery. However, chronic (long-term) overactivation of the immune system can cause serious problems. Such is the case in diseases such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, and asthma. It is also true in atherosclerosis.
Inflammation literally means “on fire.” And just like a steadily burning flame that slowly melts a candle, this process—if chronic—progressively erodes the health of our arteries. Indeed, scientists now realize chronic inflammation is a major—if not the major—culprit in coronary artery disease. It underlies not only the creation of arterial plaques but also their growth and rupture.
Although fatty deposits in arteries stimulate local inflammation, mounting evidence indicates inflammation elsewhere in our bodies can cause an “echo effect,” further worsening arterial damage. Conversely, anything that lessens inflammation throughout our bodies could theoretically help us reap additional dividends—by helping ease the inflammatory burden on our arteries.
1 AJM Jan 2009: S10.
2 Heart Health in the Inflammation Age. Peter Libby. Scientific American Presents: Oral and Whole Body Health. Special publication by Proctor and Gamble, 2006.
3 Respir Res. 2005; 6(1): 22.
(Submitted by Betty Dean. Used by permission from www.lifeandhealth.org. Courtesy of LifeSpring – Resources for Hope and Healing Stuart, VA.)
