MODULE SUPPLEMENT: CARDIOVASCULAR SYSTEM
What Can We Do About The Process?

First, for many individuals it is possible to decrease cholesterol and LDL through diet.

Low fat, high fiber diets can help, especially if they include soluble fiber such as in oat bran, beans or psyillium. Data suggest that diets very low in fat and cholesterol may even reverse the arteriosclerotic process (Ornish, Scherwitz, et al., 1999). If diet doesn't work, medications to reduce cholesterol may be necessary.

Second, it is possible to increase HDL somewhat through exercise--those "good lipoproteins" carry cholesterol away from the vessels. Estrogen also has a positive effect on HDL levels which is considered one reason women after menopause are more predisposed to cardiovascular disease. Unfortunately, recent data do not support the use of hormone replacement therapy (estrogen plus progesterone) to treat or prevent cardiovascular disease in older women.

Yet another approach is to prevent injury to the vessel wall by treating hypertension and not smoking.

Finally, we can try to decrease the oxidative process caused by reactive oxygen species or free radicals--this is an important area of research that is influencing not only professionals in the field, but also approaches to selling vitamins and minerals. One of the ways in which HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors appear to exert their beneficial action is through their anti-oxidant properties.

You may have thought of additional mechanisms. For example, more attention is now being given to the influence of inflammation as an underlying factor in the processes involved in vessel wall damage.