Inflammation/Disease Connection

            Silent inflammation may be setting you up for cardiovascular disease (CVD).  For decades medical doctors have been focusing on the connection between high cholesterol and CVD.  Today, researchers are finding that chronic low grade inflammation is a much greater contributor to CVD than high cholesterol.

            Inflammation is an essential physiologic process that is part of our defense against foreign microbes that infect our bodies.  Inflammation is also an integral part of the body’s healing process after any kind of injury. 

            Even though inflammation is a life-saving force in the body, it also has a “dark side”.   If this mechanism is not turned off after it has done its job or if one’s lifestyle promotes inflammation, chronic low grade inflammation may continue for years or decades, injuring tissues of the body.

            This is what makes silent inflammation so insidious and deadly.  With acute, active inflammation symptoms such as redness, heat, pain, and swelling are quite apparent.  If the symptoms are bad enough most people will take anti-inflammatories to control the symptoms. 

            Silent inflammation is always below the level of perception.  With no apparent symptoms, it is allowed to continue and tissues of the body can be ravaged over time.

            How exactly does silent inflammation contribute to CVD?  The by-products of inflammation can be found throughout the body.  If they are in high concentrations inside the plaque that line the arteries, the plaque is more unstable and likely to rupture.

            In an attempt to heal the rupture, the clot and deposited materials can eventually plug up the artery, decreasing or stopping blood flow.  This process leads to atherosclerosis and if it is in a coronary artery, a heart attack might result. 

            Last year, one of my patients had a mild heart attack.  She did not have high cholesterol or even much plaques in her arteries.  Her doctor discovered one of her coronary arteries had gone into spasm, just like a “charley horse” and stopped the blood flow to a part of her heart. 

            The chemical by-products of inflammation can act as powerful vasoconstrictors.  Initially blood flow is impeded and this can increase blood pressure.  If one of the coronary arteries shuts tight, a heart attack will ensue.

            Finally, the greatest number of heart attacks are caused by electrical problems of the heart.  Electrical impulses cause the heart to contract in a synchronized manner in order for blood to be pumped efficiently.  When there is a high amount of inflammation, the levels of omega – 3 fatty acids are generally low.  Deficiencies of these fatty acids cause chaotic electric rhythms in the heart.  If this is severe enough, it can result in a heart attack.

           As you can see, these causes of CVD have absolutely nothing to do with high cholesterol, but with silent inflammation.  In fact, 50% of the people hospitalized with heart attacks have normal cholesterol.