See Jane Run
The mainstream is catching on. But not quite all the way.
More than two years ago I first told you about the importance of C-reactive protein (CRP) as a marker that reveals potential cardiovascular problems. Since then, a number of trials have shown that CRP may prove to be the most reliable marker for cardiovascular disease – far more reliable than cholesterol levels.
A recent article in the New York Times indicates that the medical establishment is now coming around and recognizing the significance of CRP. And what is the mainstream solution? Medication, of course!
Some things never change.
Changing course
The New York Times article was written by Jane E. Brody, the personal health columnist for the Times. I’ve taken Ms. Brody to task in previous e-Alerts for her attacks on high-protein diets (most notably, the Atkins plan). In this article, Ms. Brody cites a couple of impressive cardiovascular studies that underline the importance of CRP.
In one study of 22,000 men, almost 100 subjects died of sudden cardiac arrest. None of the subjects had high LDL cholesterol levels or any other indications of heart problems except one: they all had high CRP levels. And in a similar study of about 28,000 healthy women, CRP levels were shown to predict strokes and heart attacks better than cholesterol levels did.
What’s remarkable about this article is that Ms. Brody recognizes the fact that these and other trials indicate that CRP levels may predict cardiac events better than cholesterol levels, which is a major departure from the mainstream cholesterol mindset of the past decade.
And she suggests that CRP levels can be lowered by quitting smoking, losing weight, exercising more, and changing diets. (She doesn’t elaborate on exactly what dietary changes to make, but given that a cookbook she published a few years ago is subtitled “Living the High Carbohydrate Way,” you can imagine what her dietary recommendations might be.)
And then, to that list of natural ways to address high CRP levels, Ms. Brody adds: “Many drugs may also help, especially the cholesterol-lowering statins and the antidiabetic thiazolidinediones.”
MANY drugs? Statins? Stop the car, Jane. Here’s where I get out.
The larger picture
C-reactive protein is produced by the liver in response to inflammation. And because studies have shown that inflammation may be an aggravating factor in creating the blood clots that commonly lead to cardiovascular (CV) events, CRP appears to be an excellent signal that a danger to heart health exists.
But inflammation is a normal response to other health problems too. Cancer, obesity, rheumatoid arthritis, pneumococcal pneumonia and other infections can all boost CRP. So when CRP levels are high, you know something is wrong. But what you don’t need is an expensive drug to make the CRP drop; you need a good doctor who will examine you thoroughly, run whatever tests are necessary, and then treat the problem that’s causing the CRP to jump.
Treating the marker (which is simply a tip that there’s a larger problem) is like putting your finger into a leak in a dike and saying the dike is repaired.
Soup to nuts
Two years ago a major four-year study with 15,000 subjects was begun to examine the possibility that CRP levels can be lowered with the use of statins. The research is being sponsored by AstraZeneca, the maker of rosuvastatin, which is the drug that’s being used in the trial.
Anyone want to bet that this trial will conclude with a recommendation to use statin drugs to reduce CRP levels?
In the e-Alert “Burst of Inflammation” (11/21/02), I told you how HSI Panelist and medical advisor Martin Milner, N.D., assesses heart attack risk by measuring a wide range of markers, including: CRP, homocysteine, total cholesterol, HDL and LDL, fibrinogen (a globulin that affects blood coagulation), and apolipoproteinB (apoB) and apolipoproteinA-1 (apoA-1) levels, as well as apo ratios.
That may seem like a lot of tests, but Dr. Milner has found one comprehensive test that can assess all these important heart health predictors from just one blood sample. It’s called the Comprehensive Cardiovascular Report (CCR), and it’s available from Great Smokies Diagnostic Laboratories (gsdl.com).
Talk to your doctor about requesting the CCR test, or a similar type of test, to get an overall picture of your heart health risk. Because simply writing a prescription for statins to address individual symptoms is a tunnel-vision treatment.
To Your Good Health,
Jenny Thompson
Health Sciences Institute
Sources:
“Hunt for Heart Disease Tracks a New Suspect” Jane E. Brody, The New York Times, 1/6/04, nytimes.com
“Protein Predicts Heart Risk Better than Cholesterol” Reuters, 11/14/02, reuters.com
“Docs Look at New Sign of Heart Disease Risk / Clinical Trial to Study How Drugs Affect CRP Levels” Debra Goldschmidt, CNN Medical Unit, 11/18/02, cnn.com
