For years I thought I understood what causes heart attacks. The arteries narrow due to cholesterol build up and such until they get so blocked that eventually a blood clot gets stuck and voila.
While that does happen, apparently in most cases apparently it’s inflammation that does us in. Specifically, cholesterol and such coat the arteries which then get covered by the body’s natural defense. Eventually, this will swell a bit and burst, releasing a substance that causes the blockage right then.
I don’t have the book in front of me as I write this on the plane but that’s the gist of what I got out of it.
So how do you avoid heart disease? The advice given is largely the same. Keep your HDL high (over 60) and your LDL low (under 120) and your total cholesterol under 160.
Or in other words, don’t do what Brad does: HDL is only 39, LDL is 179, and total cholesterol is 278. So my blog may have its problems but the problem is going to go away…