Lots to discuss and argue - and I await Dr Malcolm Kendrick's reaction! After all, he has been going on about inflammation in depth and for a long time!
I commend this paragraph in particular: “For the first time, we’ve been able to definitively show that lowering inflammation independent of cholesterol reduces cardiovascular risk,” he said.
Is there any connection between inflammation and thyroid? Yes - most certainly.
New heart treatment is biggest breakthrough since statins, scientists say
US researchers find heart attack survivors given anti-inflammatory injections have fewer future episodes and lower cancer risk
Anti-inflammatory injections could lower the risk of heart attacks and may slow the progression of cancer, a study has found, in what researchers say is the biggest breakthrough since the discovery of statins.
Heart attack survivors given injections of a targeted anti-inflammatory drug called canakinumab had fewer attacks in the future, scientists found. Cancer deaths were also halved in those treated with the drug, which is normally used only for rare inflammatory conditions.
Statins are the mainstay drugs for heart attack prevention and work primarily by lowering cholesterol levels. But a quarter of people who have one heart attack will suffer another within five years despite taking statins regularly. It is believed this is because of unchecked inflammation within the heart’s arteries.
The research team, led from Brigham and Women’s hospital in Boston, tested whether targeting the inflammation with a potent anti-inflammatory agent would provide an extra benefit over statin treatment.
Antiinflammatory Therapy with Canakinumab for Atherosclerotic Disease
Paul M Ridker, M.D., Brendan M. Everett, M.D., Tom Thuren, M.D., Jean G. MacFadyen, B.A., William H. Chang, Ph.D., Christie Ballantyne, M.D., Francisco Fonseca, M.D., Jose Nicolau, M.D., Wolfgang Koenig, M.D., Stefan D. Anker, M.D., John J.P. Kastelein, M.D., Jan H. Cornel, M.D., Prem Pais, M.D., Daniel Pella, M.D., Jacques Genest, M.D., Renata Cifkova, M.D., Alberto Lorenzatti, M.D., Tamas Forster, M.D., Zhanna Kobalava, M.D., Luminita Vida-Simiti, M.D., Marcus Flather, M.D., Hiroaki Shimokawa, M.D., Hisao Ogawa, M.D., Mikael Dellborg, M.D., Paulo R.F. Rossi, M.D., Roland P.T. Troquay, M.D., Peter Libby, M.D., and Robert J. Glynn, Sc.D.
for the CANTOS Trial Group
The whole paper is shown along with supplementary material. Be aware that sometimes this will only be true for a short time after publishing and then it goes back to showing just the abstract. This has caught me unawares a couple of times in the past.
Just noticed this was published over a year ago - 21 September 2017.
If Dr's would zoom in and treat the core of the problems many ailments could be avoided .Treating thyroid first and see how many problems get resolved . We ought to drill this message home to Dr's till they get sick and tired hearing it .
Inflammation is good, it is healthy, it is healing. It drives me bonkers when people suggest that inflammation is the underlying cause of a disease. No, no, no. The most powerful anti-inflammatory agents known to man are corticosteroids a.k.a. steroids a.k.a. cortisol – in a slightly altered form. Inflammation knocked on the head by steroids, death from CVD multiplies many, many, fold. Look up Cushing’s and CVD risk. If anyone tells me CVD is an inflammatory disease once more I shall do…. what I normally do, which is to scream internally. Non-steroidal drugs also increase the risk of CVD. Get rid of inflammation and you are also (in most cases) getting rid of healing. Why would anyone wish to do this?
The body's natural response to injury is (acute) inflammation, bringing plasma proteins and phagocytes (white blood cells that consume foreign material) to initiate tissue repair.
However, when too much inflammation occurs (chronic), it is damaging to the body .. think joint inflammation (arthritis), gut inflammation (Crohns disease, IBS, etc), brain inflammation (migraine), etc.
Acute inflammation is short lived, only lasting until that injury has healed. Chronic inflammation is like a fire that needs to be put out as has a domino effect that will continue triggering other negative reactions and so further illness.
Inflammation only becomes dangerous when acute inflammation turns into a chronic, low grade inflammation. I think Dr Kendrick is referring to the acute.
I agree. But personally I don't think the thyroid is the root cause but the whole body system......which includes the thyroid.
They tout this as great new treatment but if I had read it right no reduction in mortality rates as the drug leads to more fatal infections. I suppose the way we are chopped up by medical science that's OK.The cardiologist can give his affective treatment for CVD and tick his box leaving infection control to offer palliative care.
Interesting, there is avtually good evidence that following a ‘mediterranean diet’ can have a positive effect on inflammation and studies have shown that there is a lower risk of cardiovascular disease.
Just as a caveat, using a single powerful anti-inflammatory agent might be helpful in some cases, however some inflammation is a natural response from our immune system to various processes, and if you dampen it down completely could have other knock on effects as well.
Well, Malcolm Kendrick did say that reducing inflammation was the only thing that statins had going for them. But there are plenty of things with fewer or no side effects that reduce inflammation (or perhaps increase healing so inflammation goes away faster). Big pharma needs to make its money and an "even better" statin seems to be the way to go as "inflammation" is gradually hitting the mainstream. I'll wait until I see what happens to the early adopters after 10 years on it.
I'm not sure that inflammation causes us to need more cholesterol. High cholesterol is usually caused by low T3, because without enough T3 in our bodies, we cannot use cholesterol correctly, and it mounts up in the blood. However, having low T3 will cause inflammation, so what it comes down to is that we all need our FT3 tested, and replacement if it is low. But, as usual, the medical community is putting the cart before the horse.
helvella I've just read your addition to your post, and also the link you've given to Dr Kendrick's blog on the subject.
On the subject of CRP and high sensitivity CRP (hs-CRP), a few months ago I paid to have two different test bundles done at the same time from the same blood draw. One set of blood tubes went to Blue Horizon, who use the CRP test, and the other set went to Medichecks, who use the hs-CRP test. I wondered what the difference would be. It turned out there was almost none.
Blue Horizon - CRP = 1.3 mg/L (0 - 5)
Medichecks - hs-CRP = 1.28 mg/L (0 - 5)
At the time I got these results I wondered why Medichecks did the newer test because it seemed to be of no added benefit that I could see. Also, when you read up about the CRP and the hs-CRP test on the Medichecks website, they stress the supposed connection with heart disease for the hs-CRP test, but not the CRP test.
I didn't do these two sets of tests on the same day to investigate the difference between CRP and hs-CRP, it was just an added bonus that I got this information.
I'm wondering if there are or can be any circumstances in which the CRP and the hs-CRP tests give very divergent results, and I can't see how that could happen.
Finally! A sensible direction. It is a breakthrough - great stuff! And is in line with what many in the health industry have been saying for years. Inflammation is the crux of all sorts of disease. Get rid of the inflammation (veggies, veggies, veggies!) and get rid of the heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, etc. Thanks so much.
By cutting out all processed food and just eating real food . Only eating carbs that come from vegetables . All my inflammatory markers have markedly decreased . Eg . ESR not particularly raised at 12 is now 1 💪🏻
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Inflammation Kills! pertinent article for thyroid patients
