My poor diet repeatedly damaged my arteries
In a nutshell
Artery walls are damaged by our environment, including the things we eat
Repeat damage can overwhelm the natural healing process
Repeat damage leads to atherosclerosis…this has nothing to do with cholesterol
This just a quick update on the subject of how atherosclerotic plaque (of the type I have) is likely caused by clots in arteries. It is based on the talk given by Dr, Malcolm Kendrick at the Second Annual Scottish PHC meeting in Glasgow on 2nd November 2024.
I’ve written extensively about his work in my previous articles on heart disease here and here.
In the meeting I attended, he emphasized that clotting in arteries is a normal and harmless part of our natural repair process when it happens in the same place infrequently. It becomes dangerous when our natural process is overwhelmed by repeat damage in the same area.
The Normal Healing Process
The normal process is laid out in Figure 1. Any damage is easily handled with a clot over the damaged area which is then replaced with healthy new artery wall cells.
Figure 1: The natural repair mechanism for a damaged artery wall
Repeat Clot Formation
When our arteries are subjected to ongoing to things like cigarette smoke particles, seed oils and high blood pressure (for example), the chances increase that a damaged area of artery wall may be damaged again before it has healed properly. It is this repeated damage that is the problem. Dr. Kendrick estimates that with approximately 30 repetitive assaults to the same section of artery wall, plaque starts to develop.
Figure 2: The natural repair mechanism is overwhelmed with repeat exposure to things like high blood sugar and seed oils