Can atheroma actually be reversed, once established in an artery? Professor R. W. Wissler of Chicago showed that atheroma in monkeys and pigs can be made to regress towards normality after one to four years of a low-fat diet. Their blood cholesterol levels became normal, the plaques became smaller, and the plaques themselves contained less cholesterol. There was less risk of thrombosis on the surface of the plaques, many of which healed over, so that the arterial inner surface was much smoother. Professor Wissler’s findings appear in A Textbook of Cardiovascular Medicine (1984).
The implication of this study is that a similar reduction in dietary fats in people should improve angina and help prevent heart attacks. But does it? It has been difficult for researchers to produce hard evidence that it does.
Since the 1950s there have been many large trials to determine whether reducing blood cholesterol levels will improve coronary heart disease and prevent heart attacks. They have used diet and drugs, mostly in middle-aged men, and their results have been mixed. Perhaps this is because it is overly optimistic to expect that a small change in blood cholesterol levels will improve, in a short time, a disease that has been present for many years (usually since childhood).
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