Finished reading The Clot Thickens this morning. For anyone curious or concerned due to symptoms or personal experiences with CVD, I highly recommend this book. It's an easy read despite covering some technical detail. He starts Part 1 of the book identifying an alternative hypothesis to the cholesterol hypothesis, the dominant view of CVD risk and cause so prevalent today.

The competitor is the thrombogenic hypothesis view identifying blood clots and blood clotting as the primary process causing CVD. Dr. Kendrick takes an interesting approach where he describes the process of the formation of arterial plaques by blood clots and provides proof at a detailed level where anyone can understand the process. You don't require years of biology and understanding of CHD/CVD. He walks through this explanation and touches on some things familiar to many researching and following a low-carb approach. Throughout he compares the competing hypotheses and details where the cholesterol hypothesis falls apart. Much of it is due to inaccurate assumptions and the inability of today's "experts" with the forceful presence and influence of pharma to truly confirm why LDL is not capable of starting or contributing to arterial plaque formation and why blood clots are.

Providing all the details one needs to understand the premise, by the end of the book, you'll have a detailed understand about how CVD is caused with recommendations on how to slow it or stop it. It's a quick read and he keeps it lighthearted, which is tough with a deadly serious topic.

One of the realizations I had after reading the book was related to the CAC discussions we've had on this forum. I can now understand why calcium is present where plaques occur, and I believe the book provides sound guidelines for controlling further damage. It also reinforces many of the lifestyle behaviors we discuss related to WOE.