The modern drugs that are used to treat cardiovascular disease are well known, but the modern nutritional approach to preempt cardiovascular disease is not as well known. The term cardiovascular disease is a very general term used to cover a set of conditions that are ultimately caused by atherosclerosis. Until recently atherosclerosis was simply known as “hardening of the arteries” that appeared in folks who ate too much fat and got too little exercise. Today it is known that one of the earliest triggers for artherosclerosis is oxidant damage to fat molecules. This damage alerts the immune system that swings into action, but one of the results is inflammation. These are the initial steps in a cascade of events that produce the deadly final stage of cardiovascular disease.
The medical countermeasures against cardiovascular disease are aimed at establishing the proper balance between the levels of high-density lipoproteins (HDL) and the low-density lipoproteins (LDL). Typically this means increasing the HDLs and decreasing the LDLs and triglycerides. It turns out that recent medical research has discovered a “third great wave” of cardiovascular disease prevention in terms of anti-inflammatory agents and antioxidants. This new approach offers the same benefits as the earlier approaches, but with far fewer side effects which is good news for promoting senior health against cardiovascular disease.