For the last two decades, the Modus Operand! of most health care providers managing their patients with atherosclerosis was to prescribe cholesterol-lowering drugs. It would seem that this essential sterol has been inadvertently implicated for the epidemic of atherosclerotic and thromboembolic disease, which has permeated our society and over-burdened our health care system.

The most popular pharmaceutical management tool has been the statin class of cholesterol-lowering drugs. These drugs are HMG-CoA Reductase inhibitors and function to interfere with cholesterol syntheses in the liver.' These drugs are widely prescribed to treat heart disease with the underlying presumption being that cholesterol is the definitive cause of coronary artery stenosis. Despite their questionable safety and the fact they deplete the myocardium of coenzyme QlO (potentially increasing the risk of cardiac mortality), they continue to be one of the most frequently prescribed drugs. As the body of evidence regarding this controversial subject in cardiac management has continued to expand, clinicians are considering other factors, which may be more important with regard to prevention and management of cardiovascular disease. Some of these concepts relate to the inappropriate intake or metabolism of fatty acids, endogenous or exogenous lipid peroxidation, lipid or triglyceride reactivity to dietary stimuli, unchallenged free radical activity and various nutrient deficiencies.