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Medical data is for informational purposes only. You should always consult your family physician, or one of our referral physicians prior to treatment.

Arteriosclerosis

A Vital Message to My Patients

Gus J. Prosch, M.D., and Wyatt C. Simpson, M.D.

(Formerly published in The Journal of the Rheumatoid Disease

Foundation, Volume 1, Number 2, The Roger Wyburn-Mason and

Jack M. Blount Foundation for the Eradication of Rheumatoid

Disease, aka The Arthritis Trust of America

®

, 7376 Walker Road,

Fairview, Tn 37062 Copyright 1986)

We sincerely desire that all our patients and their families enjoy

the best health possible. During the past 2-3 years, there has been an

explosion of research and knowledge that can vitally effect the health

of each of us. This paper was written in an effort to teach you,

inform you, and convince you to change some of your eating habits

so that you and your family will enjoy a healthier life and fewer

health problems. Some authorities may question some of our con-

clusions, but when we daily observe the health of our patients im-

prove from following these suggestions, in the name of Truth we

must speak out and share this information with you.

Today’s number one health hazard is arteriosclerosis or harden-

ing of our arteries. This causes heart attacks, strokes, and peripheral

vascular disease (usually in the legs) which leads to more misery and

suffering than any other disease known today. This does not count

the expenditure of billions of dollars and the loss of millions of days

of productive work for the American work force.

Before 1900, this disease was hardly known and was extremely

rare. In fact, the first “heart attack” was described in the medical

literature in 1910. Dr. Paul Dudley White (President Eisenhower’s

heart specialist) saw a heart attack for the first time in 1929. The

disease began with the advent of hydrogenated oils (margarine) and

the processing (refining) of our grain foods such as wheat, corn, rye,

barley, oats, etc., where all the vital fatty acids are removed from

these grains. The food companies must remove these fatty acids so

that the grain foods do not turn rancid and spoil, otherwise the foods

would not last long on the shelves of our super-markets. Our great-

great grand parents and their parents had very little arteriosclerosis

even though their diets included foods known to be high in choles-

terol such as eggs, butter, lard, and “sow-bellies,” etc. However,

they did not eat any hydrogenated oils, and their grain foods were

home ground and not processed.

We have known for 20 years that the dietary cholesterol cannot

be the cause of arteriosclerosis for several reasons. First of all, the

dietary cholesterol in the stomach is broken down into its tiny com-

ponent parts and although some is absorbed through the intestinal

wall, most of our cholesterol in our system is manufactured by our

own body. The problem of arteriosclerosis develops because our

bodies do not use the cholesterol properly that our bodies make.

Also, Iceland Eskimos, whose diet by the way is ten times higher in

cholesterol than our diet, have very little arteriosclerosis. They should

be “dying like flies” if dietary cholesterol intake caused arteriosclero-

sis. But they do not suffer from heart attacks, strokes, and poor

circulation in their extremities unless they move to more civilized

areas of the world and begin eating as we do. The two things these

Eskimos eat differently from us are: (1) they do not eat any hydroge-

nated oils and (2) they eat a great deal of cold water ocean fish which

are very high in fatty acids.

In the early 1940s, when the Germans overran Norway, the

incidence of arteriosclerosis, cancer, and schizophrenia was quite

high in that country. The Germans took away all the margarine from

the Norwegians, and the incidence of these diseases dropped signifi-

cantly. After the Germans left and Norwegians again began to eat

their margarine, the incidence of these diseases increased to their

former levels.

In America, we are developing arteriosclerosis at earlier ages

than ever before even though there is a greater effort on the part of

most of us to decrease our cholesterol intake in our diets. Autopsies

performed on soldiers killed in the Korean War showed approxi-

mately 30% of these young men suffered from advanced atheroscle-

rosis. About twenty years later, in the Viet Nam War, autopsies

performed on soldiers killed showed approximately 60% suffered

from advanced arteriosclerosis. We must do something about this

trend, and that is the purpose of this paper.

Recent research has proven that all hydrogenated oils block the

chemical pathways that are necessary for our bodies to use the cho-

lesterol that our bodies manufacture. Also, our bodies must have

certain essential fatty acids (now being removed from our foods) to

assimilate and use our cholesterol as well as to manufacture certain

hormone-like chemicals called prostaglandins, our cells cannot func-

tion properly, and they will be subject to disease. We believe that this

is one of the main reasons that we are seeing an explosion of many

chronic degenerative diseases such as Arteriosclerosis, Arthritis,

Diabetes, Lupus, Schizophrenia, Multiple Sclerosis, Asthma, and

numerous others. Other conditions that can benefit from these di-

etary changes include hyperactivity and learning disabilities, pre-

menstrual syndrome, systemic yeast infections as well as many skin

disorders and allergies.

What You Can Do!

1. Totally avoid all hydrogenated oils as in margarine, cooking

oils, deserts (doughnuts, cookies, cakes, etc.) and deep fried foods

such as French fries, corn and potato chips, etc. You can use cold

pressed oils found at health food stores for cooking, but do not use

extremely high temperatures. If the cooking oil label doesn’t state

“cold pressed,” it is probably hydrogenated. You should read all

food labels and avoid those that have hydrogenated oils as ingredi-

ents. Don’t cook foods with high temperatures as all oils over 350

degrees become hydrogenated. Cook longer at lower temperatures.

2. Increase the essential fatty acids in your diet.

a. Eat cold water ocean fish (non-farmed) 3-4 times per

week such as salmon, cod, mackerel, sardines, (pour off hydroge-

nated oils), water packed tuna. Warm ocean fish (snapper, flounder,

®

Gus J. Prosch, Jr., M.D.