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https://medicalxpress.com/news/2017-02-link-high-fat-diet-obesity.html
Obesity
and a diet high in fat could lead to a harmful activation of the immune system,
increasing a person's risk of heart disease, according to a study led by Queen
Mary University of London (QMUL).
Previous
research has shown that obesity increases blood
pressure and cholesterol – both risk factors for heart
disease. Now researchers funded by the British Heart Foundation
believe obesity could also trigger an immune response, increasing a person's
risk of a heart attack. The findings could lead to new treatments that target
this inflammation to reduce a person's risk of heart disease.
The
study, published in the journal Cell Metabolism, involved taking blood
samples from 1,172 lean, overweight or obese
people. They found that a certain type of white blood cell, or
T-cell, was present in higher levels in obese people.
When
the team measured the fat distribution of these same people they also found
that those carrying more fat around the middle had higher levels of these cells
than those carrying fat on their thighs and bottom.
T-cells
are essential for the immune response as they protect the body from
infections. However, they also cause inflammation which can make a number of
cardiovascular diseases worse. For example, they can contribute to the build-up
of fatty plaques in arteries in atherosclerosis, which can lead to a heart
attack or stroke.
Higher
levels of these T-cells were also present in mice fed a high fat diet, leading
the researchers to conclude that a high
fat diet, which leads to obesity, is a cause of this harmful
inflammation.
Professor
Federica Marelli-Berg from QMUL's William Harvey Research Institute said:
"With this research we've found a direct link between the food we eat, our
weight and dangerous inflammation which can cause heart disease.
"Drugs
which target the molecule responsible for this inflammation are already being
tested in clinical trials aimed at treating cancer. As such, it might be
possible to re-purpose these drugs for the treatment of heart disease."
Dr
Claudio Mauro added: "Our next step is to find out how long these harmful
T-cells remain in our blood at high levels. As yet we don't know whether
dieting will bring the levels of these T-cells down and reduce the risk of
heart disease or whether once raised these T-cell levels remain high for
life."
Professor
Metin Avkiran, Associate Medical Director at the British Heart Foundation,
said: "Every three minutes someone goes to hospital with a heart
attack in the UK. We already know that being overweight can increase
your blood pressure and result in high cholesterol levels, both of which are
bad news for our heart.
"This
study shows that what we eat may also have an effect on our cardiovascular
health via our immune system. The good news is that by knowing exactly how this
harmful inflammatory process works we are one step closer to finding a way to
prevent it. We now need more research to see if drugs that are already
available could be a means for tackling this inflammation
and lowering a person's risk of heart disease, over and above the benefits of
maintaining a healthy diet."
Explore
further: Too many Americans have high blood pressure, doctors warn
More
information: Claudio Mauro et al. Obesity-Induced Metabolic Stress Leads to
Biased Effector Memory CD4+ T Cell Differentiation via PI3K p110δ-Akt-Mediated
Signals, Cell Metabolism (2017). DOI: 10.1016/j.cmet.2017.01.008
Journal reference: Cell Metabolism
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