Life is not merely being alive, but being well. ....Martial


Home arrow Fatty Acids arrow High-Fat Diets Inflame Fat Tissue Around Blood Vessels, Contribute to Heart Disease
High-Fat Diets Inflame Fat Tissue Around Blood Vessels, Contribute to Heart Disease Print E-mail
Katie Pence
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

CINCINNATI, Feb 18, 2009—A study by researchers at the University of Cincinnati (UC) 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."

 

Source: University of Cincinnati  




Share this:
Digg!Reddit!Del.icio.us!Google!Live!StumbleUpon!Newsvine!Yahoo!
Last Updated ( Tuesday, 24 March 2009 )
 


NUTRITION IN DEPTH

Are All N-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids (ALA, EPA, DHA) Created Equal?...
 
This review will assess our current understanding of the differential effects of the polyunsaturated fatty acids ALA, EPA and DHA on cancer, insulin resistance, and cardiovascular disease.
Read more...

-----------------------------------

Metabolic Effects of Low Glycemic Index Diets on Diabetes, Obesity and ...
 
The persistence of an epidemic of obesity and type 2 diabetes suggests that new nutritional strategies are needed if the epidemic is to be overcome. A promising nutritional approach suggested by this thematic review is metabolic effect of low glycemic-index diet.
Read more...

-----------------------------------

Cancer and Nutrition: A review of the evidence for an anti-cancer diet
 
It has been estimated that 30–40 percent of all cancers can be prevented by lifestyle and dietary measures alone...
Read more...

-----------------------------------

Debate: "How low should LDL cholesterol be lowered?" Viewpoint: "It doesn't need to be very low"
 
We defend the viewpoint that not all high risk patients should have the objective to reach a low LDL concentration.
Read more...

-----------------------------------

The Case for Low Carbohydrate Diets in Diabetes Management
 
A low fat, high carbohydrate diet in combination with regular exercise is the traditional recommendation for treating diabetes. Compliance with these lifestyle modifications is less than satisfactory, however,...
Read more...

REVIEW ARTICLE

Conjugated Linoleic Acids as Functional Food: An Insight into Their Health Benefits
 
This review evaluates the health benefits of the functional food, conjugated linoleic acids (CLA) - a heterogeneous group of positional and geometric isomers of linoleic acid predominantly found in milk, milk products, meat and meat products. Read more...
Google
 



About Us | Contact Us | Advertise with Us | Disclaimer | Privacy Policy | ©2009 DietaryFiberFood.com | All Rights Reserved.