What is Arterial Plaque?
Arterial Plaque is a buildup of hard material caused by inflammation within the artery. This inflammation is caused by microbes and/or microbial products. Cholesterol or lipids cannot themselves cause this inflammation.
Most often this inflammation is due to a fungal infection, NOT high cholesterol or high fat itself.
In his Fungalbionic Series book on Atherosclerosis, Costantini notes that atherosclerosis and hyperlipidemia are generally accepted to be of unknown etiology (no one knows what causes them) (1).
Doctors are taught these ailments are caused by cholesterol and fats. Research by Keys (1963) points out that dietary cholesterol has absolutely no adverse effect in humans. Furthermore, cholesterol is a normal constituent of every living cell; cells cannot be injured by their normal components.
Research done by Keys and Steinberg and Witztum (1990) point out that fats, cholesterol, and metabolic processes do not explain the complex inflammatory nature of the atherosclerotic lesion (ie. plaque in arteries).
Plaque is formed through an inflammatory process. Something is causing that inflammation – it isn’t cholesterol or fat, however.
What Causes Arterial Plaque?
What actually is happening is that the artery is becoming inflamed due to exposure to some microbes (which include bacteria, protozoa, fungi, algae, amoebas, and slime molds) or microbial products (such as dead mycobacteria).
This inflammation is known as a “granuloma”: Granulomas are small lumps of immune cells that form in your body in areas where there is infection or inflammation. Doctors believe that they block the spread of organisms such as bacteria and fungi through your body (2).
What arterial plaque is actually then is a section of inflamed artery (granuloma) which is made up of dead cells surrounded by macrophages (a type of white blood cell), lymphocytes, plasma cells, mast cells, and proliferated smooth muscle cells. These smooth muscle cells produce collagen which becomes the fibrous tissue encasement mixed with calcium deposits.
This plaque was caused by microbes. You can think of bad microbes as “toxins” or “pollution” within your body.
Neither cholesterol nor lipids are microbes or microbial products.
Thus, something besides cholesterol and fat must be causing this inflammation (which results in arterial plaque).
There is much evidence which reveals fungal infections as the cause of this inflammation.
References:
- Costantini, A. V. (1994). Fungalbionic Series: Etiology and Prevention of Atherosclerosis. ISBN #3-930939-00-2
- https://www.webmd.com/lung/lung-granulomas
- Kaufmann, D.A. (2000). The Fungus Link: An Introduction to Fungal Disease.