I talk a lot about LDL, ApoB, and their causal role in atherosclerosis. But there's another side of this equation that deserves just as much attention: the health of the endothelium, or the delicate lining of our blood vessels. Think of ApoB-containing lipoproteins, the main one by far being LDL, as the wood feeding the fire of atherosclerosis. Because "sparks" are inevitable in all human bodies, the more wood (LDL/ApoB) available, and the longer it's there, the greater the o

As seasons shift and viruses circulate more actively, the question of how to keep yourself and your family well becomes an important topic in most households. Emerging research suggests that some of the most powerful immune support happens at a level most people often overlook entirely or at least don't focus enough on, and the results can be significant. These key areas are: what you eat, how you sleep, and how you spend your days. Diet: The Foundation If you had to choose o

If you spend any time in the online cardiovascular health world, you have probably noticed something. The same debates keep showing up over and over again. Different faces, different Instagram posts and Youtube shorts, but the same playbook. Once you can see the moves, you start to see through the playbook and know the difference between information that can help you and information that can harm you. Contrarian Papers It seems like every few months a new post drops with a ti

You'll see a lot of health influencers online claiming inflammation is "the real cause" of cardiovascular disease, and that apoB and LDL aren't really a concern if there's no inflammation present. The ZEUS trial results just came out, and they're a good example of why we should push back on that narrative. The ZEUS Trial Over 6,300 people with atherosclerotic disease, chronic kidney disease, and elevated inflammation were randomized to an IL-6 inhibitor or placebo. IL-6 is a

If you've heard of medical ozone therapy at all, there's a decent chance you heard about it lumped in with some true examples of medical quackery out there. That reputation would seem to make sense on the surface. Ozone is the same gas that degrades rubber and irritates your lungs on a smoggy day. Introducing it into the body on purpose sounds like the opposite of medicine. In actuality, published research and clinical evidence paint a very different picture. Much of my own

A DEEP DIVE INTO THE REAL REASON ATHEROSCLEROSIS HAPPENS WHERE IT DOES, WHY YOUR CHOLESTEROL NUMBER IS ONLY HALF THE STORY, AND WHAT TO DO ABOUT IT You've probably heard the argument. Maybe from a podcast, a YouTube video, or a friend who went carnivore and lost 40 pounds and now has opinions about lipids. It goes something like this: "LDL doesn't actually cause heart disease on its own. You need other factors like inflammation, insulin resistance, oxidized LDL. If your metab

Henry Gray (1918) Anatomy of the Human Body You’re gonna want to read this one carefully.... OK, here’s something that might surprise you, and honestly, it surprised me when I first learned it too. The standard narrative out there most people have heard goes something like this: cholesterol is crucial for the life of all cells and the liver makes the cholesterol, packages it into LDL, and ships it out to your organs and tissues that need it. So essentially LDL = delivery truc

source: https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/JAHA.123.033654 A new study shows that getting your LDL very low helps but still may not quite be enough to fully eliminate risk. Let's use it's findings to help discuss this topic in detail. This study was just published in the European Heart Journal and followed over 1,500 Japanese heart disease patients for about 5 years after stent placement. Researchers were among a specific question: if we get LDL cholesterol down to aggre

Are statins safe or not? This article dives into the nuance you won't get on an IG reel.

WHAT IS A TRULY NATURAL LEVEL OF LDL? The following is written by Pablo Corral MD (on X as @drpablocorral) and it's an excellent summary of an important question everyone should pay close to. Especially if someone likes to say they live/eat in a way that tries to mimic our early ancestors, they should be aware of this too and follow suit completely if being consistent. How much LDL-C did our ancestors actually have? The evidence exists — five independent lines, all converging

Two dietary philosophies dominate the cardiovascular prevention conversation right now: ketogenic (very low carbohydrate, high fat) and whole food, low-fat plant-based (WFPB). Both have passionate advocates, both have real evidence behind them, and both produce genuinely different biological effects. This post tries to give an honest, neutral look at where the evidence actually stands, going well beyond the standard lipid panel. Before anything else: both diets exist on a wid

Confused about cholesterol and not sure what to believe? If you do any internet digging yourself, you have likely seen chatter in the...

A DEEP DIVE INTO THE PROCESS OF ATHEROSCLEROSIS I used to believe it was. I was wrong. Atherosclerosis is actually not fundamentally an...

Endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) play a crucial role in maintaining endothelial health and promoting vascular repair. As we age, the...

It’s a rare day when I speak to a patient who does not note that they are under a particularly high amount of stress. There are many ways...

The history of medicine is fraught with examples of treatments whose effects turned out to be more harmful than expected and, in some...

Germ theory vs Terrain theory vs Reality The yin yang symbol is a representation of the interconnectedness of nature, where things cannot...

This is the Therapeutic Hierarchy for treatment in naturopathic medicine. In every situation, whether to do with prevention or treatment, the naturopathic physician who is striving to abide by these principles, endeavors to start at the bottom and only move up the ladder if absolutely necessary. In more certain situations, multiple steps, potentially even all of them, need to be applied at the same time, but the goal of a principle oriented naturopathic physician is still to