Dr. Kilmer McCully Discusses the Role of Homocysteine in Cardiovascular Disease

Today’s interview is with Dr. Kilmer McCully who has been working on the effects of homocysteine since 1968 and was the first to propose its role in the development of cardiovascular disease. Homocysteine is an amino acid formed from dietary methionine. Methionine is a sulfur-containing proteinogenic amino acid, one of two essential amino acids that must be consumed in our diet.

In this interview, Kilmer discusses:

How studies fail to show that lowering cholesterol reduces heart disease
Why statins and lowering cholesterol don’t increase life expectancies but do increase risks for cancer and other diseases
The homocysteine theory of heart disease
Response from the scientific community to McCully’s homocysteine theory
Role of homocysteine in growth
Vitamins necessary for conversion of homocysteine
How and why homocysteine is transported through the body by lipoproteins
The role of lipoproteins in destroying microorganisms
Homocysteine’s affect on endothilial cells
The difference between arteriosclerosis and atherosclerosis
How a vegetarian diet can promote higher levels of homocysteine and vascular disease
How food production practices contribute to heart disease
Why soy is not a heart-healthy food
Homocysteine’s effect on elastic tissue
Homocysteine’s role in creation of abdominal aneurysms
How smoking increases homocysteine levels and contributes to heart disease
How risk factors for heart disease raise homocysteine

Total time: 66 minutes.

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Interview

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Bio

Dr. Kilmer McCully was a highly regarded physician at Harvard and the Massachusetts General Hospital until his controversial theories on heart disease cost him his research funding and his job. But his theories are now widely accepted by the medical and scientific community. Dr. McCully is the Chief of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Services for the United States Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Boston and was the first to propose the homocysteine theory of cardiovascular disease. He has received numerous awards for his research and has published over 75 research articles in peer-reviewed journals in his field of investigation from 1961 until 2004. He has also published two monographs, several book chapters, several reviews in medical journals, and two books for the general reader.