Reduce inflammation for just $200,000 a year!

A new study has shown that a drug, originally used to treat juvenile rheumatoid arthritis and other rare disorders, reduces the risk of heart attacks and strokes in people with cardiovascular disease. The drug treatment does have a couple of drawbacks, such as the cost ($200,000 a year) and the risk of death. In fact, in the study, deaths from infection appeared to match any lives saved by the drug, so there was no difference in mortality. (The medicine suppresses part of the immune system, hence the deaths caused by infections.)

The drug, called Ilaris, reduces inflammation by inhibiting interleukin-1β, a substance that triggers inflammation in response to infection. The study report hints at the fact that lowering cholesterol may not be the answer to reducing heart attacks (half the people who have heart attacks have normal cholesterol). People with heart disease have high levels of inflammation, which is measured by the level of C-reactive protein in your blood. The importance of the study is that it’s the first real evidence that if you inhibit inflammation you reduce the risk of heart attacks.

Let me just say this: in my book, Fat: It’s Not What You Think, I say “Because atherosclerosis begins as a lesion and inflammation, the presence of C-reactive protein may be a more important indicator of heart disease than high cholesterol…C-reactive protein is released into the bloodstream in response to inflammation and plaque buildup in the coronary arteries.” I also quote a cardiologist who says, “Inflammation is emerging as the alpha and omega of heart disease.” My book was published in 2008. Just sayin’…

But how to reduce inflammation without paying $200,000 a year and suppressing your immune system? Some people swear by an anti-inflammatory diet, but research hasn’t proven the efficacy of that method. I don’t know the answer. Drugs such as Advil or Aspirin also don’t get the job done (they don’t work on interleukin-1β,) Maybe there’s nothing you can do. (On the other hand, my post next week questions the role of inflammation.)

If you haven’t read my first posts, you don’t know that I haven’t had a checkup or had my cholesterol checked in about 14 years. Not my thing. But it would be interesting to get checked for C-reactive protein. I’ve considered doing it just out of curiosity.

For an introduction to this blog, see I Just Say No; for a list of blog topics, click the Topics tab.