Journal of Natural Health Jul 99 v5#3 6017.14

14	Whitewing Labs, Inc.	Journal of Natural Health, July, 1999
by L. Stephan Coles, M.D., PhD	Defend Yourself Don't 'Catch' Heart Disease

Would it be heart disease is not simply a biochemical but also a bacterial malady? In other words, can you catch heart disease? The answer may surprise you.
And when you see my logic, you will also see why a daily immune support formula, such as Whitewing Labs’ Immune Defense^™, is so vital to feeling fantastic every day and, surprisingly, reducing your risk of heart disease.

Angioplasty Failure
Mystery Solved
Angioplasty fails in 60 percent of cases . . . but why? Bugs in your pipes! Yes, bacteria and other infectious agents.
    Three infectious organisms in particular appear to be related to heart disease, gunking up the arteries, playing a role in plaque build-up that takes us right back to the biological realm of heart disease causation. These three microbial criminals are cytomegalovirus, Chlamydia pneumoniae, and Porphyromonas gingivalis.
    “For 17 years, Dr. Joseph Melnick of Houston's Baylor College of Medicine has made a hobby of removing lesions from diseased coronary arteries and testing them for cytomegalovirus (CMV), a common herpes virus,” reports the August 11, 1997 Newsweek. “It shows up with surprising frequency and it’s looking less harmless all the time. Scientists have long known that CMV can spell trouble for people receiving heart transplants; infected patients are roughly twice as likely as others to lose their new organs, or their lives, to arterial disease.”
     In 1996, Dr. Stephen Epstein of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, found that CMV infection increased by four-fold the odds that someone having his arteries opened by angioplasty would see them close back

up within six months. CMV will prove to have an extremely strong link to heart disease, predicts Epstein. © Copyright, 1998 PhotoDisc

Chlamydia and Heart Disease
The airborne bacterium Chlamydia pneumoniae is known more commonly for causing respiratory illness than the damage it does to the arteries. Yet, surprisingly, a myriad of recent research has been published linking this bacterium to heart disease.
Over the last year, animal and human studies have pinpointed Chlamydia pneumoniae as a possible factor in triggering the inflammatory responses in the tissues lining blood vessels that then leads to plaque obstructions.
British researchers have found that having high antibodies to chlamydia (evidence of infection) predisposes people to a second heart attack. The patients of Dr. Sandeep Gupta, of St. George's Hospital, London, with evidence of the bacteria were up to four times more likely than other patients to suffer further heart problems over an 18-month period

when they were studied. The British researcher has found that antibiotic treatments reduce the risk of heart attack.

What to Do . . .
Take antibiotics only when necessary and use as prescribed. But for increased daily resistance to pathogens that we now believe may cause heart disease, use Immune Defense.
Immune Defense’s key nutrients— Siberian ginseng, garlic, echinacea, goldenseal, bioflavonoids, zinc and preformed vitamins A and E— impact human immune function by stimulating the following immune enhancing events in the human body:
Induction of optimal amounts of tumor necrosis factor and interleukins. These tough cops kill dangerous cells and tissues circulating in the body, as well as mount attacks on bacteria and viruses.
Macrophage and natural killer cell activation enable the body’s frontline immune soldiers to more effectively devour and disable invading pathogens.
Healthy maintenance of mucosal linings, the body’s first line of defense against pathogens.
We doctors used to tell patients to check their cholesterol and blood pressure when it came to reducing heart disease, and then prescribed necessary medications or dietary support formulas. These are important considerations, but we must now add to the list a strong immune system. Use Immune Defense from Whitewing Labs, available by using the order form in the center of this journal. Its role in heart health is quite clear.