Are we genetically pre programmed to die of heart disease? Check out this article in the Atlantic. Throughout history, humans and all animals have evolved and continue to do so. Part of this evolution may actually be the reason behind so many people dying from heart disease. According to a new book that Haider Warraich, a fellow in cardiovascular medicine at the Duke University Medical Center is working on, the problems have to do with our immune system, and how inflammation in our modern day society is responsible for todays cardiac and circulatory problems. Inflammation is responsible for atherosclerosis, not cholesterol. Nutritionists have been telling us for years that reducing inflammation reduces disease, especially in the cardiovascular system. Many diets they suggest have us doing things that not only reduce our weight but also reduce inflammation as well, resulting in better blood tests and healthier patients. Being healthy has nothing to taking pharmaceuticals which may help regulate disease, however, reducing inflammation may be the better, healthier and less expensive alternative. Allopathic medical providers may suggest that medications are better than changes in lifestyle and diet, but are they? Perhaps we have to continue to adapt to modern lifestyles more appropriately. As we have adapted with immune responses that were designed to help us through days of starvation, we now have a society that moves less, eats more and has more inflammation due to years of adaptation that did not include the industrial revoluation. This leads many years later to cardiac and circulatory problems. While I do not totally agree with this doctors solutions, I do agree that by reducing inflammation, you will have a healthier life and a better functioning vascular system that may help you avoid heart problems. Check out the article in the Atlantic. Why So Many of Us Die of Heart Disease Evolution doomed us to have vital organs fail. For years, experts failed us, too. Olga Khazan The Assyrians treated the “hard-pulse disease” with leeches. The Roman scholar Cornelius Celsus recommended bleeding, and the ancient Greeks cupped the spine to draw out animal spirits. Centuries later, heart disease remains America’s number one killer, even though medical advances have made it so that many more people can survive heart attacks. Some parts of the country are especially hard-hit: In areas of Appalachia, more people are dying of heart disease now than were in 1980. Haider Warraich, a fellow in cardiovascular medicine at the Duke University Medical Center (and an occasional Atlantic contributor), is at work on a book about how heart disease came to be such a big threat to humanity. We recently spoke about some of the insights he’s come across in his research and practice. An edited transcript of the conversation follows. Read more