All of us are probably aware that former President Bill Clinton recently needed the placement of two stents in a coronary artery that was part of a quadruple bypass surgery less than six years ago.

According to Dr. P.K. Shah, director of cardiology at the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute in Los Angeles (Shah is not treating Clinton), there are three reasons why this blockage can happen so soon after a bypass:

There could be a problem with the graft – especially if the graft is from a leg vein and not from a chest artery.
A problem could have developed beyond the graft site in an artery that was operated on in 2004.
A new narrowing or blockage could have developed in an artery that wasn’t bypassed.

In Clinton’s case, the blockage happened in an artery that had been bypassed, so there was obviously a buildup of arterial plaque in the 5 or 6 years since the bypass surgery.

Even though President Clinton had been told that a diet low in saturated fat and salt and a healthy exercise routine would help prevent further blockages, this was not the case for him.

One of Clinton’s doctors referred to the stent procedure by stating: “He has watched his weight and improved his diet. But sometimes these things just happen.” These things don't "just happen".

The paradigm has shifted. Most now admit that atherosclerosis is not a cholesterol disorder; it is a chronic inflammation disorder.

When examined pathologically, all studies reported significant inflammation in the walls of blood vessels. Only the parts of arteries that were inflamed were artherosclerotic.

When the arteries of people who had died of a heart attack were examined, the most inflamed area of the artery was most often found to have caused the heart attack and not the segment with the greatest amount of crud. That is, the inflammation caused sudden coagulation – a blood clot inside the vessel – and triggered the fatal blockage.

Researchers analyzed the walls of artherosclerotic arteries and found that the most abundant oxidized oil was not cholesterol, but types of omega-6 oils. These are the oils most common in the “heart healthy diet” and include corn, safflower, sunflower, peanut, and soybean.

In fact, they found that all the oils in the arteries were oxidized, including phospholipids, which meant that something was triggering a long-term inflammatory reaction.

Researchers and clinicians then found that people with chronic inflammatory diseases, such as diabetes, metabolic syndrome, autoimmune disease, infected gums, etc, had very high rates of heart attacks and strokes DESPITE HAVING LOW, OR EVEN VERY LOW, BLOOD LEVELS OF TOTAL AND LDL CHOLESTEROL.

There are three major triggers to inflammation:

The cumulative toxic load in both the gut and tissue. This can include, but not be limited to, heavy metals, chemicals, plastics, antibiotics, bad bacteria, viruses, food additives, yeast, fungus and mold. This can trigger an autoimmune IL-6 inflammatory attack, which can lead to all sorts of autoimmune inflammation.This creates a very hospitable terrain for cardiovascular disease.

Inflammatory foods. The main culprits are refined sugars, fructose, high fructose corn syrup, refined, manufactured, packaged foods AND oils that oxidize easily when cooked at a high heat, such as corn, safflower, sunflower, peanut, soybean, and most refined vegetable oils.

Stress. Researchers have found that physical, mental or emotional stress not only depletes the body of vital B vitamins – it also creates an inflammatory terrain in the body where actual physical symptoms can manifest.

And so, it’s possible that Bill Clinton could have a toxic insult in his body. It’s possible that, even though he has cut down on fats in general, he still may unconsciously be eating oxidized fats. And it is very possible that his lifestyle, as humanitarian as it has been, may be creating a level of stress that elevates his inflammation. This all seems very logical to me. In fact, I would be quite surprised if this were not the case.

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