Had anyone studied CRP before you? In 1931 researchers discovered something they called “replication factor.” It was DNA. They also discovered CRP, but nobody thought about it again until the last five years.
You found that people with low cholesterol weren’t necessarily healthy. They may be at very high risk. In our study, people with low LDL and high CRP had more cardiovascular events than people with high LDL and low CRP.
What causes high CRP? Half of it is genetic. The other half is linked to smoking, diet, obesity. Our genetic adaptations from millions of years ago–strong inflammatory responses and the ability to store fat–are maladaptive now that starvation and infections aren’t life-threatening issues in the U.S.
How will the new findings about CRP affect the way we treat heart disease? These data challenge our federal guidelines. For instance, statins lower CRP, but their prescription guidelines only consider cholesterol. We need to go beyond that.
