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Could be and thru all my research I take hardly any extra calcium. If I take any it's a 250mg tab but I can't recall when I took one last. Of the doctors I've seen besides my integrative MD, so many push the calcium..I push back and and shout magnesium. The rheumy I was seeing for a while and I liked her had me thinking take more calcium and I said no, it's mag we need more. Maybe I got her thinking.
Actually my mother's primary care physician instructed her NOT to take any more calcium supplements. And I have never had a physician "push" calcium. Not that calcium is not a dietary requirement, and it's not the evil poison that some make it out to be, but it's better to get the required amount through dietary means if possible.
The clotting cascade and the complex cascade of the inflammation/healing process are intimately connected. An injury to any tissue, whether it is on the molecular level (a mutant protein, oxidation of a normal protein or a foreign protein) or a larger level (a cut) starts the ball rolling. We artificially separate the inflammatory process and the healing process when we talk, but they're really the same thing--and they need to be balanced. One cleans up the mess and the other repairs it. If the demolition side is dominant, we call it "inflammation."
To initiate the process, a damaged area causes the clotting mechanism to start by building a temporary plug: first fibrinogen is turned to a mesh-work of fibrin, then platelets & WBCs and cholesterol (LDL) is trapped in it to seal it. The more LDL you have, the bigger the plug--but--as the fine tuning of repair starts, HDL is called in to smooth out or remove the LDL. That's why people with very low HDL (the only ones who are at significant risk for MI) have higher rates of MI and those with hi HDL seem to be protected.
There are many causes of oxidation of arteries (compare with old rubber tires- dried and cracked): genetic predisposition, infection, denaturation by hi bld. sugar, auto-immune diseases, etc etc.--but the response is all the same- to activate the clotting/inflammation/healing cascade.
Measures of inflammation, like the C-reactive protein and sed rate are weakly correlated with arteriosclerosis, but the tests give results too highly variable in any single individual to be of any practical value.
Great explanations for a complex topic. Thank you.
Actually my mother's primary care physician instructed her NOT to take any more calcium supplements. And I have never had a physician "push" calcium. Not that calcium is not a dietary requirement, and it's not the evil poison that some make it out to be, but it's better to get the required amount through dietary means if possible.
Well, from what I've read the calcium that people are taking is going into the bloodstream and NOT the bones. This is where the D3 and K2 and magnesium are essential.
The clotting cascade and the complex cascade of the inflammation/healing process are intimately connected. An injury to any tissue, whether it is on the molecular level (a mutant protein, oxidation of a normal protein or a foreign protein) or a larger level (a cut) starts the ball rolling. We artificially separate the inflammatory process and the healing process when we talk, but they're really the same thing--and they need to be balanced. One cleans up the mess and the other repairs it. If the demolition side is dominant, we call it "inflammation."
To initiate the process, a damaged area causes the clotting mechanism to start by building a temporary plug: first fibrinogen is turned to a mesh-work of fibrin, then platelets & WBCs and cholesterol (LDL) is trapped in it to seal it. The more LDL you have, the bigger the plug--but--as the fine tuning of repair starts, HDL is called in to smooth out or remove the LDL. That's why people with very low HDL (the only ones who are at significant risk for MI) have higher rates of MI and those with hi HDL seem to be protected.
There are many causes of oxidation of arteries (compare with old rubber tires- dried and cracked): genetic predisposition, infection, denaturation by hi bld. sugar, auto-immune diseases, etc etc.--but the response is all the same- to activate the clotting/inflammation/healing cascade.
Measures of inflammation, like the C-reactive protein and sed rate are weakly correlated with arteriosclerosis, but the tests give results too highly variable in any single individual to be of any practical value.
With regard to atherosclerosis, though, the clotting process is the terminal event (pun intended - a clot in a coronary artery may result in a heart attack, possibly fatal).
The process is initiated by damage to the tissue lining the artery, the endothelium. That includes the conditions you have mentioned, like high blood sugar, and chemicals from tobacco, and increased pressure in the artery. Atherosclerosis tends to happen at branches in arteries, where blood flow can become turbulent.
Deposition of cholesterol happens early in the process. Even young children develop the earliest sign of atherosclerosis: the fatty streak. Such streaks may even regress, and there is as yet no way to tell which will regress and which will advance to problematic plaques.
"For example, fatty streaks tend to progress to advanced lesions in areas of artery flow dividers and branch points probably related to altered hemodynamic forces. The presence of cholesterol crystals in the extracellular lipid pool may induce further foam cell formation and inflammation to promote fibroinflammatory lipid plaque formation."
Therefore, the cholesterol deposition induces further changes that promote an inflammatory response. LDL in the artery wall becomes oxidized, chemicals are produced that attract inflammatory cells, the "mess" ensues, a fibrous cap forms over the area, and eventually the cap can rupture. That rupture is what provokes the clotting cascade. The fibrin plug is produced, but it does not contain cholesterol.
Keeping LDL out of the artery wall is important. As you said, lowering LDL and raising HDL does that.
Note that it is possible for arteries to be inflamed without the presence of cholesterol. That process is called vasculitis and has a totally different pathogenesis.
I know the topic concerns the heart, but here's an intriguing video regarding the possible role of oxidized cholesterol levels as one factor in the development of Alzheimer's:
Is it just me or are most of the theories on nutrition, longevity and health put forward by people selling supplements, books, etc.? And even if there were some truth statistically to many of the many competing theories of health and longevity (one that looks good is the longevity of people who live in 7th Day Adventist communities), statistics can't be used to predict an outcome for any individual. Many obese junk food eaters have outlived many people who exercised and "ate healthy" for their entire short lives. You just can't predict your overall health and longevity from statistics, any more than you can predict how much you will earn over a lifetime based on your education. Just because the average may be higher or lower for health or longevity or wealth, it doesn't tell you what your individual results will be. And just because you can explain what has happened to a sick person's body as the result of inflamation, doesn't mean you can reliably prevent others from getting that same condition.
Is it just me or are most of the theories on nutrition, longevity and health put forward by people selling supplements, books, etc.? And even if there were some truth statistically to many of the many competing theories of health and longevity (one that looks good is the longevity of people who live in 7th Day Adventist communities), statistics can't be used to predict an outcome for any individual. Many obese junk food eaters have outlived many people who exercised and "ate healthy" for their entire short lives. You just can't predict your overall health and longevity from statistics, any more than you can predict how much you will earn over a lifetime based on your education. Just because the average may be higher or lower for health or longevity or wealth, it doesn't tell you what your individual results will be. And just because you can explain what has happened to a sick person's body as the result of inflamation, doesn't mean you can reliably prevent others from getting that same condition.
You are correct: statistics apply to groups, not individuals.
However, statistics can be used to estimate risk. The individual has to decide what he wants to do once he knows what the risks are.
For example, there are risks associated with many sports. Knowing that, people still participate in those sports.
Interesting. Risk, derived from statistics can be ascribed to individuals, but risk can not predict an outcome for any individual. Having a 5% risk or a 75% risk of a medical problem, doesn't predict whether an individual will have that problem. I've known too many people who regardless of their diet or lifestyle have lived way past or died way before the average lifespan. About the only thing I have found to be of value in risk management in regard to my health has been to have good health insurance and pick and choose my doctors based on what they say and do and what I hear and experience.
Quote:
Originally Posted by suzy_q2010
You are correct: statistics apply to groups, not individuals.
However, statistics can be used to estimate risk. The individual has to decide what he wants to do once he knows what the risks are.
For example, there are risks associated with many sports. Knowing that, people still participate in those sports.
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