| After cholesterol the most important cause of heart attacks is the killer that Paul Ridker identified.” Time Magazine August 20, 2001…The Researchers and Doctors who are Changing Our World by Alice Park. Dr. Paul Ridker is a cardiologist at Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital and of the world’s leading experts on arterial inflammation, an immune-system reaction that is a powerful contributor to heart attacks. Inflammation in the arteries tuns out to be as dangerous for the heart as high cholesterol levels in the blood. “Inflammation has really changed our whole outlook on heart disease,” says Dr. Eric Topol, a cardiologist at the Cleveland Clinic. The idea that heart attacks are caused by arteries gummed up with cholesterol was clearly inadequate; half of all heart attacks occurred in people with normal cholesterol levels. Three years ago Dr. Ridker launched the first large-scale studies designed both to confirm inflammation’s role in heart attacks and provided doctors with a useful, reliable way of measuring its effect in the arteries. As usual, few of his colleagues believed that low levels of inflammation could cause the problems. According to Dr. Ridker, “there were many naysayers.” Recently Dr. Ridker’s group published their landmark studies. As expected, patients with high levels of CRP (C-reactive protein) were at significantly higher risk of developing a heart attack. “Dr. Ridker’s team found that those with low cholesterol but high levels of the inflammatory marker CRP were just as likely to have a heart attack as those with high cholesterol and low levels of CRP.” These findings have given doctors a new and very different model of heart disease. Inflammation and cholesterol combine, they now believe, to create a particularly unstable type of plaque that builds within blood-vessel walls. It’s the rupture of these plaques, spewing debris into heart arteries, that causes clots to form and leads to heart attacks. Pharmaceutical companies are developing new Anti-inflammatory drugs to control this process. Doesn’t it make more sense to use powerful natural anti-inflammatory medications like proanthocyanidins found in certain types of fruits that are also antioxidants and the help prevent clots from forming before the inflammatory process takes place? The New England Journal of Medicine -- March 23, 2000 -- Vol. 342, No. 12 C-Reactive Protein and Other Markers of Inflammation in the Prediction of Cardiovascular Disease in Women Paul M. Ridker, Charles H. Hennekens, Julie E. Buring, Nader Rifai A simple, cheap blood test that predicts future heart disease more accurately than cholesterol screening could become a powerful new diagnostic tool for doctors, according to a study published today in the New England Journal of Medicine. The test, which looks for a protein that is a marker for inflammation, was nearly twice as accurate in predicting cardiovascular problems as conventional screening for cholesterol. The marker, known as high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), also was more accurate than 10 other markers used in the study. Because half of all heart attacks occur in people who have normal cholesterol levels, the finding could be an important breakthrough in preventing heart attacks in those with so-called silent heart disease. "This is very compelling information," said David Rutlen, professor and chief of cardiovascular medicine at the Medical College of Wisconsin. "I think it is quite possible that this could become a common test." The Positive Effects of Grape Seed Proanthocyanadins The family practice professor listed numerous physiological attributes of supplementing one's food supply with proanthocyanadin bioflavonoids from grape seeds in the following order of occurrence: Such bioflavonoids decrease tissue inflammation as a result of their inhibition of the body's prostaglandins, kinins, histamine, leukotrienes, 5-HT, and the enzymes lipoxygenase and cyclooxygenase. They decrease allergic reactivity by inhibiting mast cell and basophildegranulation. Grape seeds also decrease allergy by their inhibition of histidine decarboxylase thereby depleting tissue levels of histamine. They produce highly effective free radical scavenging and cessation of free radical chain reactions as well as repair of free radical-induced tissue damage. The proanthocyanidin bioflavonoids potentiate and regenerate the antioxidant, antithrombotic, anti-inflammatory, and antineoplastic effects of vitamin C (ascorbates) and vitamin E (tocopherols). They repair and maintain normal collagen and elastin fiber structure resulting in the strengthening of vasculature. As a result, the grape seed supplement user will experience reduced capillary fragility, less venous insufficiency, decreased atherosclerosis, resolution of vague swellings, a diminished risk of phlebitis, expedient healing of chronic dermatoses, fewer ulcerations, and protection against skin injury from the sun. |
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