Good Cell Food Keeps the Arteries Open

By Milton G. Crane, M.D.
Weimar Institute

Introduction

Weimar Institute was founded on the premise that fruit, vegetables, nuts and grains, prepared in a simple way, without irritating spices and without oil or grease of all kinds, makes with a little milk or cream the most healthful diet.¹ Now, however, milk and eggs are excluded because of the disease in animal.² Recent evidence is growing which explains quite clearly how natural garden produce is protective, and how refined foods can cause havoc at the cell level. Each week brings confirmation that the two major health hazards, atherosclerosis (plugged arteries) and cancer, are largely attributed to a diet of flesh foods and refined foods along with milk and eggs. Milk, if used should come from healthy cows, well cared for; and it should be thoroughly sterilized.³ Beyond the fact that milk brings on or aggravates many allergic conditions, is the knowledge that forty to eighty percent of dairy cattle test positive for leukemia. And not all the infectious agents, that can transmit cancer, are destroyed by pasteurization.

One author put it this way at a recent conference on the soybean, "Reduction of consumption of plant foods means reduced intake of a wide variety of substances that lower cancer risk. Vegetables and fruit contain the anti-carcinogenic cocktail to which we are adapted. We abandon it at our peril."⁴ To that statement we would add that we were designed to be vegetarians, and the natural produce of the garden was designed for our health and enjoyment by our Creator. Here is a brief look at some fascinating information about the benefits of whole plant foods.

As important as it is, we must lay aside the topic of the increased health risks from the use of animal products for food. Just because a processed food bears the label of "all vegetable origin" or "natural" does not make it a health food. Modern mechanical and chemical processing can remove many very important nutrients, many of which maintain proper bodily function about which we know nothing yet. We should have learned this from our experience with the loss of fiber foods from our menu. We must become habitual label readers. It is worthwhile to secure the most healthful foods that we can within our financial means consistent with our locale.

What we put in our mouths eventually determines what each cell will it eat." Sometimes, we tend to forget that cause and effect situation. Of course, cells cannot eat carrots, or bread, or whatever. The stomach and intestines have to digest the protein, fat, and carbohydrate into the fundamental constituents of what we eat and then absorb them. The blood has to carry all this material to the liver. The liver must sort out what it needs from what is floating by, inactivate the junk, combine the good that is available with what it needs and from liver storage. It then makes up cell food. All the carbohydrate, protein, fat, vitamins, and minerals play a part in the make up of the cell food.

We tend to think that once the walls of our cells have been made, the cells are made for life. They are us. But that is not the entire truth. Yes, the basic structure is there, yet -the atoms and molecules are constantly being used and/or exchanged.

The cell walls are made up of a double layer of fatty acids along with some protein, and some special carbohydrate (sugar) complexes.⁵ These chemicals in the wall plus the vitamins and minerals serve as structure. Yet, these items, plus the tissue fluid surrounding the cell, become the raw material that the cell uses to repair itself and to perform its own work.

But cells do not have storage closets. They take in what the cell walls and their genetic directors in the inside the cell are programmed to do. Some cells essentially utilize their cell galls so rapidly that they exchange the compounds in the cell every two days.⁶ Other cells proceed much more slowly.

The chemicals that are involved in the atherosclerotic plugging of the arteries are the lipids, fat and cholesterol. Cells get most of these lipids from little balls of a certain size and density, called low-density lipoproteins (LDL). Through action of the liver and enzymes in the blood, LDL is put together from triglyceride (fats), a protein identified as B-100, and some cholesterol.^7,8 You may have had some of these measured in your blood.

As LDL floats downstream in the arteries, it passes over small potential openings in endothelial cells, the cells that line the inside of the arteries. Endothelial cells have places that can be opened for LDL and cells can pass through into the artery wall. These are regulated by the endothelial cells in response to "whispered" electro-chemical information from the muscle and elastic cells, etc., that make up the wall of the arteries.⁹ When the cells in the artery wall call for "cell food," the endothelial openings enlarge; and LDL can go through these openings to feed the artery cells.¹⁰

Each cell has on its surface many mouths, called receptors. These engulf LDL particles and draw them inside the cell. The cells utilize the LDL for its purposes depending upon their own genetic guidance. A buildup of cholesterol inside the cell shuts down the receptor-mouths that are open.^7,8

Cells also need oxygen. This gas leaves the red blood cells, goes into the plasma, moves into tissue fluid, and then enters the cells in the artery wall. In some respects, oxygen is generous. It is eager to share its electrons with other chemicals. We call this "oxidation." But oxidation needs to be directed and controlled. You see, "burning" is fast oxidation, and "rusting" is slow oxidation. Oxygen is supposed to exert its action upon carbohydrate or fat to produce energy inside the cells in many little power generators, called mitochondria. Mitochondria are little "chemical batteries" to generate electrons and protons (hydrogen atoms) for chemical reactions.

What could upset this finely balanced system of cell chemistry? All works well and good, so long as the ingredients are there in proper amounts, and the blood circulation is in proper working order. But oxygen cannot be piped in; it must ride to the cells dissolved in the same tissue fluid that carries the LDL cell food. Herein lies part of the basis for the next step.

The monounsaturated and the essential polyunsaturated triglyceride fats have up to three double-bond places on an 18-carbon chain. They need these double bonds, because they are used to make some very important chemicals called prostaglandins, thromboxanes, or leukotrienes. But oxygen loves to attack fat at these double-bonds, If it binds at one of these double-bond sites by one of several processes, it may "burn" the fatty acid chain into two pieces at those spots. This turns the fat into rancid, smelly material. On the other hand, oxygen may just form a weak "singulet" bond at that double bond on the chain, and be content to ride along wherever the LDL particle goes.¹¹

However, this singulet oxygen hookup on the fat presents a problem. Oxygen is prone to give up its weak linkage to the fat. If it should ride into the cell wall on the fat, the oxygen could attack other chemicals at the wrong place and at the wrong time. This hazardous complex is called a "toxic radical" for that reason.^11,12 You can imagine how this would upset cell chemistry. To prevent this the Creator made some check and double check provisions to prevent oxidation from happening at unwanted places so that oxidation would occur at the right spots. You see, cells in the immune system, for example, use oxygen in their attack against germs.^13,14

Creator Designed Mechanisms Guard Against Unwanted Oxidation:

The structures of the plant cells, their food compartments, are designed to block-the entry of oxygen into off-limit storage places where fats and other calories are stock piled. For example, a dry grain of corn has such an excellent barrier against the penetration by oxygen that the corn grains can be stored at room temperature for hundreds of years without the fat getting spoiled. However, if we grind up that grain, the fat will begin to deteriorate immediately. In a matter of a few weeks it becomes too rancid to eat.

The second line of defense against unwanted oxygenation involves antioxidants such as vitamin E, vitamin C, and B-carotene. Vitamin E can capture the singulet oxygen away from fat. Vitamin C can regenerate the vitamin E so that it can go back for more.¹⁵ Within the plant cell structure, whether seed or leaf, these vitamins along with certain trace elements, such as selenium, serve to keep oxygen from combining with the oils and proteins in the wrong location.¹⁶

Let us illustrate it this way. You could light a fire anywhere in the house to provide light and to warm up the place. That might work for a while; but, if you do not want to burn the house down, the best place for the fire would be in a stove or a fireplace, where the burning can be directed and regulated.

There is a third barrier to keep the partially oxidized fat of an LDL particle from getting into the cells structure. Monocytes, made by the bone marrow, circulate in the blood. They are designed to ingest foreign substances. They, too, move through the endothelial cells of the arteries and get out into the fluid bathing the muscle, elastic, and fibrous cells in the artery walls.

In some manner, not yet completely understood, when oxygen attacks natural LDL, some of its protein gets changed, and the complex becomes "modified LDL." The cell receptors that ordinarily would eat LDL, do not recognize modified LDL as desirable food. Yet the immune defense macrophages (big-eaters) identify it as a foreign chemical and begin to gobble it up. They ingest more and more until they simply plug up the arteries.^10,17-19

These "obese" macrophages, called "foam cells," should pass the extra cholesterol on to HDL cholesterol. However, if entirely too much LDL steadily gets into the arterial wall as a result of a chronic high fat diet, or from the driving effects of hypertension, or from the poisoning effects of tobacco toxins on the endothelial cells, the defense system gets clogged with this modified LDL debris. The macrophage cells swell up and gradually plug the artery.¹⁰

To complicate the picture further, another ball of fat similar to LDL, called lipoprotein(a), can build up in the body. Lipoprotein(a), abbreviated Lp(a), is just like ordinary LDL except that it has an immune stimulating protein particle hooked to its normal apo B-100 protein.²⁰ It too must be disposed of by the same monocyte-macrophage system.^20-22 It may result from an excess or fat, ingested oxidized fat, and/or the presence of modified protein in the diet.

Why am I telling you all this? We are currently studying Lp(a) levels in the NEWSTART guest-patients. In a study of over 140 persons, we have found that the blood levels of Lp(a) should be below 15 mg%. However, 43% of those who, on entry to the program, were on a lacto-ovo-vegetarian (LOV group) diet had values for Lp(a), over 15 mg%. Thirty-eight percent of the 95 who included flesh foods in the diet (OMNI group) had values in the range of 15 to 184 mg%. The average Lp(a) values for those two groups were each about 21 mg%. On the other hand, only three out of 38 (8%) who had been on the NEWSTART dietary program for a year or more had values over 15 mg%. The values of those 38 averaged 6.8 mg%. In other words, those on the NEWSTART diet, which omitted everything in the diet, which has added fat, had an average Lp(a), which was only one-third that of those who habitually ate meat, milk, eggs, and free fat. Also, we found that the average Lp(a) value of the LOV and OMNI groups decreased 14% after two weeks on the NEWSTART program. This was accompanied by an average decrease in the level of the natural LDL of 15% in the same persons.²³

It has generally been stated that diet is not a factor in influencing the serum Lpa.²⁴ One previous reports in the literature stated that a lacto-ovo-vegetarian diet did not lower the Lp(a).²⁵ We also found no difference between persons on a lacto-ovo-vegetarian diet and those on an omnivore diet. In another aspect of our study, we found that those on a regular daily intake of a cup or two of powdered soymilk had an average Lp(a) of 20 mg%.²³ The difference between the 38 total vegetarians who were not using powdered soymilks and the 18 who were using it was highly significant (p = 0.01). These results indicate that a very small difference can affect body chemistry dramatically. Although our results are statistically significant, further studies are needed. Even so, they indicate that the diet must be much more restrictive than generally believed if we are to alter Lp(a).

Those powdered soy milks, made up of sugars, oil, and soy protein isolate in varying proportions, need further scrutiny. Both "soy oil isolate" (soy oil) and "soy protein isolate" are highly refined.²⁶ About 90% of the fiber has been removed from soy protein isolate along with other important nutrients.²⁷ At the above mentioned International Symposium on the soybean four types of anticancer nutrients, phytoestrogen isoflavonoids (like genistein), saponins, inositol hexaphosphate, and the Bowman-Birk protease inhibitor, were reported to be in the whole soybean.^28-31 Natural chemicals like genistein that would prevent cancer are dramatically lower in soy products such as soy protein isolate in comparison with the whole soybean.^32,33

This is important information. Where is the center of the food target for preventive and therapeutic needs to get ideal health. It appears clearly from the information at hand that we must get all the constituents from plants unaltered. It is imperative that we avoid all second hand nutrients from animal products, That means that if we are to have the best health, our foods should come only from plant foods as grown, and refined foods should be avoided altogether. Then the immune system can concentrate on getting rid of germs instead of wasting cell energy combating oxidized fat and modified protein.

Two main factors, then, work together to plug up the arteries. (a) A diet, which has just too much fat that, is already oxidized to a greater or lesser degree. (b) A high fat diet that has so much good unoxidized fat that the body sends too much LDL to the cells in the arteries for them to utilize. While these excess LDL particles are waiting around in the tissue juice of the artery wall, the oxygen, which is right there on its way to the cells, can attack the LDL and modify its protein component. Once this happens, the cells cannot safely use it, and the monocyte macrophage "big eaters," gobble it up.

The secret of success is to avoid eating foods that contain added fat. We should eat fresh foods as grown and avoid spoiled, rancid foods. Even the naturally high fat foods such as the nuts, olives, high fat seeds, and avocados should be used in moderation. Also, they should be stored properly and eaten as fresh as possible to avoid damage to them from oxygenation. Freshly shelled nuts like filberts, pecans, and walnuts are much better than those which come already shelled. But, we have become a nation in search of fast foods and convenience. The nuts like the walnut have such good oils in high concentrations, that they become "stale" more readily than other nuts. Staleness is the same as oxidation. Perhaps you begin to see what we are up against.

References

1. White EG: Counsels on Diet and Foods. Review and Herald Pub. Assoc., Silver Springs, MD, page 314.
2. Ibid, page 356.
3. Ibid, page 357.
4. Abstracts of the First International Symposium on the Role of Soy in Preventing and Treating Chronic Disease, Mesa, AZ, February 20-23, 1994.
5. Chapman D: Lipid dynamics in cell membranes. In Weissmann G and Claiborne, Eds. Cell Membranes Biochemistry, cell biology, & pathology, HP Publishing Co., Inc., NY, NY, 1975, page 13-23.
6. Warren L: Isolation and properties of natural membranes. In Weissmann G and Claiborne, Eds., Mew York, NY, Cell Membranes Biochemistry, cell biology, & pathology, HP Publishing Co., Inc., 1975, page 65-74.
7. Goldstein JL and Brown MS: Familial hypercholesterolemia: A genetic receptor disease. Hospital Practice, 1985; 20:35-46.
8. Ginsberg HN: Lipoprotein Metabolism and its relationship to atherosclerosis. Medical Clinics of North America, 1994; 78:1-20.
9. Adey WR: Electromagnetic fields and their significance in Hunan life. Alumni
Postgraduate Convention. Loma Linda, CA, March 7, 1994.
10. O'Brien KD and Chait L: The biology of the artery wall in atheragenesis. Medical
Clinics of North America, 1994; 78:41-66.
11. Halliwell B and Chiraco S: Lipid peroxidation: it mechanism, measurement, and
significance. An J Clin. Nutr., 1993; 57(suppl): 715S-725S.
12. Frankel EN: Recent advances in lipid oxidation. J Sci. Food Agric, 1991; 54:495-511.
13. Babior BM, Woodman RC: Chronic granulomatous disease. Semin Hematol, 1990; 27:247-59.
14. Maly FE: The B-lymphocyte: a newly recognized source of reactive oxygen species with immunoregulatory potential. Free Radic. Res. Commun., 1990; 8:143-8.
15. Niki E: Vitamin C as an antioxidant. World Rev Nutr. Diet. 1991; 64:1-30.
16. Frie B: Ascorbic acid protects lipids in human plasma and low-density lipoprotein against oxidative damage. Am J Clin. Nutr. 1991; 54:1113S-8S.
17. Heinecke JW. Free radical modification of low-density lipoprotein: Mechanisms and biological consequences. Free Rad. Biol. & Med. 1987; 3:65-73.
18. Abbey M, Nestel PJ, Baghurst PA: Antioxidant vitamins and low-density-lipoprotein oxidation. Am J Clin. Nutr. 1993; 58:525-32.
19. Leshem, YY: Plant senescence process and free radicals. Free Radic. Biol. & Med, 1988; 5:39-49.
20. Scanu AM, Scandiani L: Lipoprotein(a): Structure, biology, and clinical relevance, in San Diego, Academic Press Inc, 1990, pp 249-68.
21. McLean JW, Tomblinson JE, Kuang WJ, et al. cDNA sequence of human apolipoprotein(a) is homologous to plasminogen. Nature. 1987; 330:132-137.
22. Mbewu AD, Durrington PN. Lipoprotein(a): structure, properties, and possible involvement in thrombogenesis and atherogenesis. Atherosclerosis. 1990; 85:1-14.
23. Blankenship J, Crane M, Mullen T, Gregory R, Lukenss R, Sample C: Lipoprotein(a) raised in subjects on powdered soymilk on a total vegetarian diet. Abstracts of the First International Symposium on the Role of Soy in Preventing and Treating Chronic Disease. Mesa, AZ, February 20-23, 1994.
24. Brewer HBJr. Effectiveness of diet and drugs in the treatment of patients with elevated Lp(a) levels. In Scanu AM, ed. Lipoprotein(a). Academic Press, New York, NY. 1990:183-204.
25. Missarei JRL, Rouse IL, Lynch WJ, Robertson K, Vandongen R, Beilin LJ. Effects of a lacto-ovo-vegetarian diet on serum concentrations of cholesterol, triglyceride, HDL-C, HDL2-C, HDL3-C, apoprotein-B, and Lp(a). Am J Clin. Nutr. 1984; 40:46&-479.
26. '93 Soya Bluebook. Published by Soyateck, Inc., Bar Harbour, ME 04609.
27. Luca EW: Soy protein products: Processing and products. Abstracts of the First
International Symposium on the Role of Soy in Preventing and Treating Chronic Disease. Mesa, AZ, February 20-23, 1994, p. 6.
28. Rao AV: Saponins as anti-carcinagens. Ibid, p. 12.
29. Shamsuddin AM: Inositol phosphates as anti-carcinogens. Ibid, p. 12.
30. Kennedy AR: Protease inhibitors as anti-carcinogens. Ibid, p. 12.
31. Adlercreutz H: Soybean phytoestrogens intake and cancer risk. Ibid, p. 13.
32. Coward L, Barnes NC, Setchell KDR, Barnes S: Genistein, Daidzein, and their b-glycoside conjugates: Anti-tumor isoflavones in soybean foods from American and Asian diets. J Agri. & food Chem. 1993;41:1961-67.
33. Messina M., Libertytown, MD. Personal communication.

Dietary Addendum to Help Lower Lipoprotein (a)

This is what plugs up the arteries. But the Creator has designed a system to remove all that material from the swollen foam cells. What must we do to reverse this process and clear out the obstruction? HDL can go to the cells and remove the excess cholesterol, take it to the liver, and let it go out of the liver in the bile. Fiber in the intestines will haul the cholesterol out of the body. HDL can be kept high by daily conditioning exercising like walking. It is the one agreed upon factor that we can do to lower Lp (a).

With the above information in mind, we suggest certain things that can be done to safeguard our bodies against oxygen-modified fats and protein. We want to test these modifications to see whether or not these principles in food selection, storage, and preparation, together with exercise, and the other NEWSTART modalities will lower the lipoprotein (a) to below 15 mg/dl within three months. It may be that additional supplements, such as antioxidants, will be needed, but the best initial approach would be to utilize proper diet and exercise alone. You can help us greatly by applying these true remedies faithfully during this test period. If for some reason you have to go off this diet program, please let us know so that we can help you.

The aim of the diet is to obtain vegetarian foods as near as possible as grown. Some things need to be cooked properly for assimilation. This includes dry beans, and other legumes, tubers (potatoes), and the grains. The list of ingredients on all processed foods, whether boxed, packaged, canned, or frozen should be carefully considered. The label of ingredients should be studied to be sure that no free fats, oil, mono- or diglycerides, or lecithin have been added. All foods that are ground or flaked are off the food list. Food ingredients exposed to high temperature and/or conditions that expose the fats and proteins to oxygen outside the plant cell structure are not the best. The object is to avoid all foods in which the fats may have been oxidized. For example, the high fat foods such as walnuts may get oxidized and turn rancid even in the shell. Corn as it is in the grain does not turn rancid for hundreds of years. Yet, corn meal or flaked corn (corn flakes) begins to turn rancid immediately. The rancidity may not be strong enough to detect by the nostril until several weeks have passed, but the oxygenation has been going on nonetheless. Particularly, do not eat any processed foods that contain defatted soy protein, protein isolate, or hydrolyzed soy or wheat protein. That means that we should eliminate meat substitutes and many different boxed foods from our good food list. Please read the label carefully. If the ingredients are not clear to you, do not eat it until we have examined the label to help you decide. If they add antioxidants to the package, it means that that food needs to be protected against oxidation. Also beware of foods that have been repackaged without a label of ingredients.

In a survey of some of the packaged foods in the Weimar store, for example, I noted several foods that have processed, defatted, or "concentrated" soy protein. This list is long, yet only partial. Here are a few of the ones that I noted: Archer Daniels "Burger Loaf, Mother's Enhancer (for bread dough), Tofu White "non-dairy" Drink [has milk protein], Mother's Best Lecithin, Soy Moo, Soy Spaghetti, Cedar Lakes Turkettes and Vege-Scallops, Veg Choplets, Loma Linda Linkettes, Super Vege Links, Philip VegeBurgers, etc. The list will be getting much longer. Some food manufacturers are using soy protein isolate to make tofu.

The following "milk substitutes" had added oil of some kind to the ingredients: Rice Dream, Carob Eden Soy Milk, and Vegelicious.

Select your foods from the following:

Fresh fruit, unspoiled.

Vegetables, fresh, or frozen, or canned (choose in that order).

Greens - low oxalate, leafy vegetables.

Yellow vegetables. If pureed, use them within the hour.

Legumes - beans, peas, lentils, garbanzos (fresh crop, whole bean).

Whole grains - A crockpot overnight, low heat cooking is ideal for whole grains and legumes. If grains are ground, it is beat to use the meal the same day. Yet, it is better to use whole grain breads in which the baker included a little lecithin, than to use other breads that have added oil or shortenings.

Tubers - Baking or boiling is ideal, just don't fry them.

Milk substitute - freshly made nut milks, preferably almond milk, is
recommended, or brown rice milk. If soymilk is to be used, please make your own from the whole bean. (Recipes are available for a once a week batch making of soy milk. Do not use powdered soymilks or any foods with protein isolate or concentrate under any circumstances.)

Use nuts, olives, and avocados sparingly. When you do, use fresh crop, still in the shell. The relatively low fats nuts are the best, for example, the chestnuts, almonds, filberts, if they are not rancid. The pecans and walnuts have very good oils, but they are very high in fats and can turn rancid more rapidly at roan temp. Use special storing precautions such as “canning" in jars with dry ice, or partial vacuum packed, or freezing. Peanuts are not advised at all.

Meat, fish, milk, and eggs are off the diet.

Do not use any foods that have added oil, fats, lecithins, partially hydrogenated
fats, monoglycerides, diglycerides, etc. They will be partially oxidized. See manuscript about "toxic radicals."

Copyright © 2002 Milton G. Crane, M.D., Weimar Institute, Weimar, CA 95736. All rights Reserved.