Cass, Can atheromas be reduced? Most certainly. They have been. Eliminated? That s rather more difficult. Usually, atherosclorosis can be reversed. Not in all people, apparently, especially in those whose atheromas have calcified, but the artery-narrowing fatty deposits can be and have been reversed. Dean Ornish indeed is a pioneer here, but his work has been confirmed and coroborated by others, also, by Caldwell Esselstyn (author of Heart Attack Proof ), and by T. Colin Campbell, whose book, The China Study shows that rural Chinese, who eat very little fat at all, have very low rates of heart disease and certain cancers. At a conference recently, in fact, Caldwell Esselstyn had a fellow on stage with him who said that his heart disease was reversed by following Dr. Esselstyn s dietary recommendations. Can all atheromas be completely removed? Probably not, but they can be reduced and their growth stopped by eliminating fat from our diet. And don t listen to cranks who claim that cholesterol isn t the enemy. It is one of several. We ve known this since the 1960s. And my homocysteine levels are near zero because I am a vegetarian. They weren t before, but they are now. There is some hogwash being slopped about here. For anyone who suffers from heart disease I would strongly recommend a low-fat vegetarian diet. It has done wonders for me.