I've been reading on the Internet about coronary artery disease, and the new
thinking with some people seems to be that the narrowing of arteries which
produces angina symptoms isn't the worst part. Those narrowings are just the
tip of the iceberg, which is plaques inside the artery wall. The worst
plaques are the big ones that push the artery outward, not necessarily the
interior-narrowing or angina-producing ones, because the big ones are where
the inner lining is weak and most likely to break and form a fatal clot.

I've also read that a fat-free diet with exercise and weight loss over time
can slowly reduce the size of plaques and reverse artery disease. So even if
you have significant plaques, it's still possible with a change of diet and
lifestyle to gradually restore your heart to a younger, almost disease-free
state. Some of the newer statin drugs can assist this process.

Since traditional angiograms only detect narrowing of the inside, the new
emerging experimental diagnostic method is intravenous ultrasound (IVUS)
which produces a 3-d picture of the artery wall structure including the size
and shape of plaques.

Have I got most of this right? Can anyone comment on these theories and
their accuracy?

About the fat-free diet, how many fat-free days are reversed by one day of
careless splurging on fat?

Also, what is it that's so bad about trans fats? I know what they are, but
I'm not clear on how or why they cause more damage than other kinds of fat.
Is it because they're harder to metabolize and stay in the blood longer? Are
they more likely to accumulate in plaques?

Exactly how or why are omega-3 fats considered helpful?

Are there any dietary compounds other than fat that are known or suspected
to enlarge arterial plaques? Are there any that help reduce them?

Thanks in advance for any comments.

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I suggest that you visit this website and determine whether or not Doctor
Don Colbert has written any books or booklets related to Heart Disease or
coronary artery disease. the URL is < www.drcolbert.com > I have seen him
interviewed on several television shows and he believes that diet and
exercise are the best options for treating various disease. You may also
want to visit the website of the largest book store in your town or city
such as Barnes and Noble and type "coronary artery disease" into their
search engine. It's my guess that many doctors have written books on that
subject. Make sure the book was written for non-doctors. I once read a
book written for doctors and had a hard time understanding the three
dollar words.
Jason
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