The Secret Cause of Heart Attacks (Hint: It’s NOT Cholesterol)

Dear Reader,

It’s not every day that a mainstream medical myth is busted by the mainstream itself.

But mark your calendars, folks, because today is that day.

A landmark study has identified the true underlying cause of major cardiovascular events like heart attacks and stroke.

And guess what?

It had nothing to do with cholesterol!

I’ve been saying for years that cholesterol isn’t the killer the majority of the medical community makes it out to be. Millions of Americans are on cholesterol-lowering statins, yet it hasn’t put a dent in heart attacks and strokes.

A full 25 percent of those who have had one cardiovascular event will have ANOTHER within 5 years even though they’re taking a statin drug.

I was beginning to think no one in the mainstream was putting two and two together, but this latest study gives me hope.

This study was published in the New England Journal of Medicine, and it included more than 10,000 people who had a previous heart attack.

The researchers wanted to find out if targeting inflammation – as opposed to cholesterol – would reduce the risk of having another cardiovascular event in the future.

All of the patients in this study had chronically high levels of “high sensitivity C-reactive protein” or hsCRP, which is a standard marker of inflammation.

For the study, the researchers gave the patients an anti-inflammatory drug called canakinumab over a four-year period.

And the results did not disappoint.

Lowering inflammation brought about a 15 percent reduction in the risk of heart attacks and strokes, and a 30 percent reduction in the need for procedures such as bypass surgery and angioplasty.

And the patients who experienced the greatest reductions in hsCRP also experienced the most dramatic benefit: a remarkable 30 percent reduction in their risk of having a second heart attack, stroke, or even dying from a cardiovascular event.

As happy as I am that the mainstream is finally starting to recognize the connection between inflammation and cardiovascular events, I would NOT recommend taking ANY type of drug to lower inflammation levels.

And the good news is, you don’t have to!

Nature has its own anti-inflammatory “wonder drug” – the spice turmeric.

More than 6,000 scientific studies on the compounds in turmeric – namely curcumin – show the anti-inflammatory powers of this flavorful spice.

But whether you’re taking turmeric itself, or a curcumin supplement, make sure you take it with black pepper. The active ingredients in turmeric are poorly absorbed, but adding black pepper makes it 7 times more bioavailable.

If you want to reduce the inflammation in your body, this is hands down one of the best ways to do it.

To a brighter day,

Dr. Richard Gerhauser, M.D.

p.s. I use the hsCRP with my patients to find out if inflammation is a problem, and you can ask your doctor for this simple lab test as well. My cutoff for a healthy CRP is less than 1.