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excerpt
Unprecedented’
Researchers in the United States turned this particular strain of good cholesterol into an
experimental drug and gave it to 36 Americans with severe heart disease, people whose arteries were
clogged with plaque. Eleven others received a placebo.
"This is the first time we've ever given good cholesterol as a therapeutic agent," said Dr. Steven
Nissen of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation and lead author of the study.
Those given the placebo saw little change in their condition. But for those given the experimental
drug, the result was dramatic.
"It was unprecedented," said Dr. Daniel Rader of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine,
who reviewed the study. "This study shows that plaque regression occurred much faster and to a
greater extent than we've ever seen before."
After just five weekly infusions, researchers saw, on average, a 4 percent reduction in the amount
of plaque on artery walls.
"Regression of 4 percent, while that might not seem like much, actually represents several years
worth of plaque buildup in the coronary arteries," Rader told ABCNEWS.
It made a big difference to 51-year-old John Pierce, of Waterville, Ohio, whose arteries were
severely clogged.
"I feel like my old self again," said Pierce. "There's no pain in the chest, there's no tightness in
the chest, there's no shortness of breath." ... Depressed? Try Fish Oil Researchers are finding that
fatty acids found in fish oil have the same result in treating depression as traditional psychiatric
medications such as Prozac.
Unprecedented’
Researchers in the United States turned this particular strain of good cholesterol into an
experimental drug and gave it to 36 Americans with severe heart disease, people whose arteries were
clogged with plaque. Eleven others received a placebo.
"This is the first time we've ever given good cholesterol as a therapeutic agent," said Dr. Steven
Nissen of the Cleveland Clinic Foundation and lead author of the study.
Those given the placebo saw little change in their condition. But for those given the experimental
drug, the result was dramatic.
"It was unprecedented," said Dr. Daniel Rader of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine,
who reviewed the study. "This study shows that plaque regression occurred much faster and to a
greater extent than we've ever seen before."
After just five weekly infusions, researchers saw, on average, a 4 percent reduction in the amount
of plaque on artery walls.
"Regression of 4 percent, while that might not seem like much, actually represents several years
worth of plaque buildup in the coronary arteries," Rader told ABCNEWS.
It made a big difference to 51-year-old John Pierce, of Waterville, Ohio, whose arteries were
severely clogged.
"I feel like my old self again," said Pierce. "There's no pain in the chest, there's no tightness in
the chest, there's no shortness of breath." ... Depressed? Try Fish Oil Researchers are finding that
fatty acids found in fish oil have the same result in treating depression as traditional psychiatric
medications such as Prozac.