An interesting article on artherosclerosis in all age groups and diet

[Spook]

I got this email too which indicates that at any age you may have some form of artherosclerosis setting up in arteries and being wary of your diet should be a concern.

Heh, you can go ahead and pay the copay for the office visit to "see"
if you have atherosclerosis, but I can save you time and expense and
tell you right now that unless you are a kid that hacked through the
NetNanny on your home computer to be looking at boobies, you almost certainly already have atherosclerosis.

It's all a matter of degree. If you are needing a reason to "get
serious" about your diet, you might as well start at the earliest
possible "convenience", because processes like this are already
setting up in your arteries.

Heart. 2005 May;91(5):576-82.

Atherosclerosis-like lesions of the aortic valve are common in adults
of all ages: a necropsy study.

"Of 48 subjects, however, 45 had an atherosclerosis-like
subendothelial thickening above the elastic lamina on the aortic side
of at least one of the valve leaflets. Of 15 young subjects aged
20-40 years, eight had a lesion in the right coronary cusp of the
aortic valve and 12 had a lesion in at least one of the three aortic
valve leaflets. Of 17 middle aged subjects, 16 had an early lesion in
the right coronary cusp and all had a lesion in at least one of the
valve leaflets. In the oldest age group, all 16 subjects had a lesion
in every valve leaflet. The mean lesion area in the three valve
leaflets varied from 0.1-0.2 mm(2) in young subjects, 0.5-0.8 mm(2)
in middle aged, and 1.3-2.3 mm(2) in elderly subjects (p < 0.001).
Microscopic calcification in the right coronary cusp of the aortic
valve was observed in 12 of 17 middle aged and 14 of 16 elderly
subjects but only in one young subject.

CONCLUSIONS:

Atherosclerosis-like lesions in the aortic valve are prevalent in
adults of all age groups, including young subjects aged 20-40 years,
suggesting that the disease process leading to aortic stenosis is
common, often beginning in early adulthood." - PMID: 15831636

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q..._uids=15831636