Removing plaque from carotid arteries — there’s a hard way, and an easy way

When it comes to keeping the blood flowing smoothly through your carotid arteries, you can do it the hard way, or you can do it the easy way.

Last week I told you about the hard way. And for this way there are actually two methods. In one, a surgeon opens the artery and removes any blockage. And in the other, a stent is inserted in the artery.

Obviously, both of these methods require surgery and a hospital stay. And while both reduce stroke risk by a small margin, they also slightly increase stroke risk too.

That’s the hard way.

Here’s the easy way: Take a vitamin E supplement. But not just any vitamin E.

As I’ve mentioned before, vitamin E has four tocopherol forms (alpha, beta, gamma, and delta), and four tocotrienol forms (alpha, beta, gamma, and delta).

In a 1995 study of 50 patients with blockage of a carotid artery, 18 months of daily supplementation with 240 mg of palm oil tocotrienols actually REVERSED plaque buildup in a large percentage of the subjects. In other subjects, the progressive accumulation of plaque was halted. No improvements were seen in a placebo group.

Of course, with a serious, high-risk carotid blockage, you won’t really have a choice between the easy way or the hard way. But for most of us, the easy way is the only way to go.

Sources:
“Antioxidant effects of tocotrienols in patients with hyperlipidemia and carotid stenosis” Lipids, Vol. 12, 12/30/95, springer.com