Arteriosclerosis, the silent killer is reaping havoc and putting incredible strain on health services around the world, a modern epidemic so potent that it is believed to be responsible for almost half of deaths occurring each year in the USA. In the last article we discussed what causes arteriosclerosis and the terrible consequences it can have on your life. (NB, if you missed the last article you can read it here, http://viphealthsecrets.com). This article will discuss the different theories surrounding arteriosclerosis.

Puzzled Scientists?

About a century ago, during an autopsy, a German pathologist named Rudolph Virchow laid open an artery to examine its interior wall. Along the lining he observed deposits of mushy fat that he called atheromata, a Greek work meaning ?porridge.? It was from this word that we derived our term, atherosclerosis.

Embedded among the cells of the artery wall along with the fat, Virchow observed some glistening crystals. These turned out to be cholesterol. But how did these fats get into the artery walls? This question has puzzled scientists for the past 100 years, and it is still being pursued in various fields of research.

The first theory advanced by researchers was that of ?imbibi?tion,? which held that fat droplets were absorbed directly from the blood stream through the lining of the artery walls. When a weakening of the ?ground? substance or actual structure of the artery wall occurred, cholesterol - the main offender - and its related fats were deposited in the artery wall. This theory has been supported by the recent discovery that these fatty deposits, especially cholesterol, exist in the same proportion in the artery wall as in the bloodstream itself.

Another theory that seeks to explain the way in which the fatty deposits get into the artery walls held that they did not come from the blood stream primarily, but were manufactured within the cells of the vessel wall.

It has also been claimed that fat molecules are normally absorbed by the artery wall without leaving a harmful residue of acid crystals. But some abnormal condition, such as high blood pressure, may force an excessive amount of the fat mole?cules into the wall. Then the artery cannot absorb the full amount, and deposits gradually build up.

Other researchers have believed that the fat droplets find their way into the artery wall through the tiny vessels that supply blood to the artery itself. According to this theory, a haemorrhage or series of small haemorrhages may occur in these tiny vessels. A clot is formed, which deposits fat particles in the artery wall when the small vessels break down.

The Most Viable Theory?

The best possible conclusion, based upon years of animal, laboratory, and human research, plus experience with innumerable patients, is this: Atherosclerosis results from an impairment of the body's ability to utilize (or metabolize) normally not only the fats eaten in the diet, but also those that are in the body itself. This im?pairment is further aggravated by the body's inability to with?stand stress or tension; and by deficiencies in the supply of hormones from vital glands such as the thyroid, the adrenals, and the sex glands.

In addition, there are other factors that influence the in?dividual's susceptibility to atherosclerosis, or death from a heart attack or stroke. These include such things as inherited or con?stitutional factors, and the ability of the blood to coagulate.

This is The Killer?

It is easy to see how complex the problem really is. The danger of oversimplification is great. However, one causative factor that stands out continuously above and beyond all others, important as they are, is fat in the diet. And it is this factor that we can control.

These fats from our foods enter our blood stream where, like sharks cruising about, they seek out the weak or vulnerable spots in the arteries. Here they attack, enter, and deposit or nest themselves. These fatty deposits then acquire calcium, and the hardening process begins in the arteries. Each particle becomes a captain around, which rally the silent ?Men of Death,? who wage a relentless struggle. Soon they begin to throttle our life flow.

Our blood vessels then engage in a vain effort to halt the armada of killers we now harbour within our arteries. Special fat-eating cells are rushed to these spots, where the fats and cholesterol have breached the barrier or wall and entered the artery. In the life-and-death struggle that ensues, the fat-eating cells try to engulf the cholesterol and fat particles, and may succeed temporarily in the ?counter-attack.?

Dr. Timothy Leary, the distinguished Boston pathologist, in 1933 first devised ingenious methods of lighting up, refracting, and photographing this deadly drama. It was seen that in?evitably the special fat-fighting cells are themselves engulfed by the repeated tidal waves of cholesterol and fats washed into the blood and artery walls by fat-containing foods such as butter, eggs, cream, milk, meat fats, and other animal fats in our diet.