Atherosclerosis - Controversy

Controversy

The commonly held belief that high fat and cholesterol consumption causes atherosclerosis has been questioned. Because fat and cholesterol are the substances of which plaque consists, they are both considered to be contributors to the cause of atherosclerosis, though this remains unverified. Inflammation is considered to be a cause of atherosclerosis rather than fat and cholesterol. In addition, various non-dietary things can trigger inflammation such as bacterial infection. Syphilis is a major trigger of artery damage in persons under the age of 50, but it has become rare in the developed world since the discovery of penicillin in the 1920s. Tobacco smoking is a major risk factor in atherosclerosis due to inducing vasoconstriction and inflammation of the artery walls. Certain drugs such as cocaine are also implicated in atherosclerosis. Finally, some genetic conditions may cause overproduction of cholesterol that accumulates in the arteries.

A team of scientists recently discovered the earliest known case of atherosclerosis in ancient Egyptian mummies. The findings could mean that some scientists may not understand heart disease as well as previously thought in regard to the conditions creating that condition. It may not be a modern disease at all and could have been common throughout human history.

This team began by running mummies through a CT scanner. "Our hypothesis was that they wouldn't have heart disease, because they were active, their diet was much different, they didn't have tobacco," he says. But they were wrong. One of the mummies the team scanned was a princess in her 40s. "That she would have atherosclerosis," the researcher says, "I think we're missing a risk factor. Right now we know that high blood pressure, smoking, cholesterol, inactivity and other things cause atherosclerosis, but I think that we're less complete than we think." On the other hand, the mummies were all members of the Egyptian upper class, who would have had access to higher-calorie foods than the lower classes, whose bodies have largely not survived for examination.