High-Fat Diets Inflame Fat Tissue Around Blood Vessels, Contribute to Heart DiseaseFebruary 19, 2009CINCINNATI-A study by researchers at the University of Cincinnati shows that high-fat diets, even if consumed for a short amount of time, can inflame fat tissue surrounding blood vessels, possibly contributing to cardiovascular disease. These findings will be published in the Feb. 20 edition of the American Heart Association journal Circulation Research. Neal Weintraub, MD, and colleagues examined adipose tissue-or fat-surrounding the coronary arteries of humans. The researchers found these fat cells to be highly inflamed, suggesting that they could trigger inflammation of the blood vessels, an important component of atherosclerosis. They also found that the inflammation of fat tissues around the arteries of mice is increased by feeding the animals a high-fat diet for just two weeks. "This is independent of weight gain or blood lipids-cholesterol levels," says Weintraub, senior author of the study and chair of the cardiovascular diseases division at UC. Weintraub says that high fat diets contribute to atherosclerosis-or the hardening of arteries-in a number of ways. "Elevated blood lipids-or cholesterol levels-can worsen with the intake of high fat diets, and this is known to contribute to atherosclerosis," he says. "However, many patients who consume high fat diets do not exhibit abnormal lipid profiles but still develop atherosclerosis nonetheless. "These new findings suggest a direct link between poor dietary habits and inflammation of blood vessels, mediated by the fat cells surrounding the blood vessel wall." Weintraub adds that the diet fed to the mouse models was not unlike the diets consumed by many Americans. "It produced striking abnormalities of the fat tissue surrounding blood vessels in a very short period of time," he says. "This is a warning to those who say there isn't a problem because their weight and cholesterol levels are under control. Lipid profiles don't hold all the answers. "Bad dietary habits can lead to a number of problems, and this suggests that a high fat diet is detrimental in ways we didn't previously understand." Weintraub says there is no real way to measure the effects of poor dietary habits on fat tissue surrounding blood vessels. "We don't know why these cells are so responsive to high-fat diets," he says. "We must now conduct further experiments to answer these types of questions." Researchers in the division of transplant surgery at UC and in the emergency medicine department at UC and the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine were also involved in this study. This study was funded by the National Institutes of Health. University of Cincinnati |
|||||||||||||||||||||
| Related Blood Vessels Current Events and Blood Vessels News Articles Measuring and modeling blood flow in malaria When people have malaria, they are infected with Plasmodium parasites, which enter the body from the saliva of a mosquito, infect cells in the liver, and then spread to red blood cells. Common pain relief medication may encourage cancer growth Although morphine has been the gold-standard treatment for postoperative and chronic cancer pain for two centuries, a growing body of evidence is showing that opiate-based painkillers can stimulate the growth and spread of cancer cells. Your Own Stem Cells Can Treat Heart Disease The largest national stem cell study for heart disease showed the first evidence that transplanting a potent form of adult stem cells into the heart muscle of subjects with severe angina results in less pain and an improved ability to walk. The transplant subjects also experienced fewer deaths than those who didn't receive stem cells. Unexplained liver hemorrhage after metastasis radiofrequency ablation Colorectal carcinoma is one of the most common cancers in the world. Approximately one in four of these patients have metastases at diagnosis, liver being the most common site involved. When seconds count: Interventional radiology treatment for pulmonary embolism saves lives Catheter-directed therapy or catheter-directed thrombolysis-an interventional radiology treatment that uses targeted image-guided drug delivery with specially designed catheters to dissolve dangerous blood clots in the lungs-saves lives and should be considered a first-line treatment option for massive pulmonary embolism, note researchers in the November Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology. New mechanism explains how the body prevents formation of blood vessels Researchers at Uppsala University, in collaboration with colleagues in Sweden and abroad, have identified an entirely new mechanism by which a specific protein in the body inhibits formation of new blood vessels. Cataract surgery does not appear associated with worsening of age-related macular degeneration Age-related macular degeneration does not appear to progress at a higher rate among individuals who have had surgery to treat cataract, contrary to previous reports that treating one cause of vision loss worsens the other. 1930s drug slows tumor growth Drugs sometimes have beneficial side effects. A glaucoma treatment causes luscious eyelashes. A blood pressure drug also aids those with a rare genetic disease. Blood test identifies women at risk from Alzheimer's Middle-aged women with high levels of a specific amino acid in their blood are twice as likely to suffer from Alzheimer's many years later, reveals a thesis from the Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. Local health investigation sheds light on gastroschisis birth defect Results of an investigation conducted by University of Nevada, Reno researchers, public health officials and area physicians published this week in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, indicate that Washoe County experienced a cluster of a particular birth defect, gastroschisis, during the period April 2007 - April 2008. More Blood Vessels Current Events and Blood Vessels News Articles |
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||