Fungi and fungal toxins cause inflammation and blockage of the arteries (atherosclerosis)

The May 2002 issue of Scientific American brought to the public what has been touted over the past five years as the new trend in understanding the etiology heart disease: inflammation. Scientists now agree, they say, that inflammation is responsible for fueling both the development and build-up of plaque that leads to blockage of arteries and heart attacks (1). Their findings, also published in the journal Circulation, claim that inflammation, which is normally responsible for healing injured tissue and fending off outside invaders, turns in a "friendly fire" manner against the body to cause harm instead (2). The degree of inflammation in the body is quantified with certain blood tests, one of which is called a C-reactive protein, or CRP. What doctors have noticed over the years is that people with elevated CRP had corresponding elevated risks of atherosclerosis and heart disease (3,4), more so than people with high cholesterol levels (5,6). We used to think that cholesterol alone was the cause of blocked arteries, but we have since observed that even patients with normal cholesterol levels are at risk of heart disease if their CRP levels are high (6). It seems the entire focus is turning to inflammation as the cause for the number one killer in the World. We fungal fanatics seem to be a little lost in this idea, because we have yet one more question that has not been answered, and that is, "What caused the inflammation?" . . . (to read the remainder of this article, please log in below.)