Uploaded September 2023 | Updated September 2026, 7 hours ago
If you’re battling with “heart disease” then you KNOW the problem is that your blood vessels are “clogging up with cholesterol”. The official name for the obstruction is an atheroma.
We’re told its made of cholesterol, but that is a bit of an exaggeration. The OBSTRUCTION it is a not just a conglomerate of cholesterol. Cholesterol, particularly low density lipoprotein, does play a pivotal role, contributing to the fatty deposits. However, an atheroma is not static, it’s a dynamic site of inflammation where immune cells gather in response to wall injury. Because cholesterol is there, it’s blamed for the troubles. There is too MUCH OF IT. And as the little macrophages do what they can to CLEAN UP THE MESS. They become engorged with it. Turning from lean mean fighting machines into sedentary unhappy blobs, referred to as foam cells. Many of these unhappy blobs succumb to the cholesterol load. Die on site. And become the necrotic core. Precipitating a fresh round of clean ups and more deaths. Vascular smooth muscle cells do their best to contain the mess, but as the pressure builds, they too succumb, so the overall structure of the blood vessel becomes increasingly unstable. It doesn’t take too much for the thinner protective barrier to spring a leak or two. Leaks can quickly morph into spills. The platelets step into to contain the spill (hopefully). But blow outs have catastrophic consequences. The macrophages are painted as the victims. But are they ?
Join us for this episode of BETTER BODY CHEMISTRY as we contemplate true role of macrophages in atherosclerosis.
Here are the links to the videos mentioned
When your iron deficiency is NOT an iron deficiency
betterbodychemistry.com/obesity/iron-deficiency-insulin
Suffering from high blood pressure – you need a vampire ?
betterbodychemistry.com/heart-disease/high-blood-pressure-vampire
Here is a link to the Willpower Report in which I introduce you to the CANDY FLOSS system.
betterbodychemistry.com/willpower-report
If you’re battling with “heart disease” then you KNOW the problem is that your blood vessels are “clogging up with cholesterol”. The official name for the obstruction is an atheroma.
We’re told its made of cholesterol, but that is a bit of an exaggeration. The OBSTRUCTION it is a not just a conglomerate of cholesterol. Cholesterol, particularly low density lipoprotein, does play a pivotal role, contributing to the fatty deposits. However, an atheroma is not static, it’s a dynamic site of inflammation where immune cells gather in response to wall injury. Because cholesterol is there, it’s blamed for the troubles. There is too MUCH OF IT. And as the little macrophages do what they can to CLEAN UP THE MESS. They become engorged with it. Turning from lean mean fighting machines into sedentary unhappy blobs, referred to as foam cells. Many of these unhappy blobs succumb to the cholesterol load. Die on site. And become the necrotic core. Precipitating a fresh round of clean ups and more deaths. Vascular smooth muscle cells do their best to contain the mess, but as the pressure builds, they too succumb, so the overall structure of the blood vessel becomes increasingly unstable. It doesn’t take too much for the thinner protective barrier to spring a leak or two. Leaks can quickly morph into spills. The platelets step into to contain the spill (hopefully). But blow outs have catastrophic consequences. The macrophages are painted as the victims. But are they ?
Join us for this episode of BETTER BODY CHEMISTRY as we contemplate true role of macrophages in atherosclerosis.
Here are the links to the videos mentioned
When your iron deficiency is NOT an iron deficiency
betterbodychemistry.com/obesity/iron-deficiency-insulin
Suffering from high blood pressure – you need a vampire ?
betterbodychemistry.com/heart-disease/high-blood-pressure-vampire
Here is a link to the Willpower Report in which I introduce you to the CANDY FLOSS system.
betterbodychemistry.com/willpower-report
