Perhaps you have heard recent television commercials for multivitamins that cite a mysterious amino acid homocysteine, as an emerging risk factor for heart disease. A dizzying array of recent scientific investigations have linked increased levels of homocysteine to the destruction of our arteries, and an equal volume of research indicates that increasing our intake of B vitamins and folic acid may be the simple solution for battling heart disease. Research now suggest that a more fundamental physiological factor contributes to the onset of heart disease.
Atherosclerosis begins when something injures the lining of an artery.
For many years, cholesterol was assumed to do the initial damage, though no conclusive research ever confirmed these suspicions. Then, these macrophages eat oxidized fatty acids that travel through the bloodstream before eventually dying. Ultimately, this process results in the buildup of scar tissue, which compromises blood flow and contributes to the formation of clots. Clots inhibit blood flow and thus cause heart attacks or strokes. Scientists have sought to discover what is really responsible for the initial damage done to the arteries in hopes of unraveling the mechanisms of atherosclerosis.