cardiovascular Archives - Amazing Health Advances

Green Mediterranean Diet Cuts Liver Disease by Half

AHA Publisher — Fri, 22 Jan 2021 08:00:59 +0000

Naama Barak via Israel21c – A green Mediterranean diet – the regular vegetable-loaded one, only with the addition of walnuts and green shakes – reduces the prevalence of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) by half, Israeli researchers recently showed. NAFLD affects 25 to 30 percent of people in the United States and Europe. While some fat is normal in the liver, excessive fat leads to insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular risk. Since no drug is available to treat fatty liver, the only intervention is weight loss and curtailing of alcohol consumption. In an 18-month trial conducted at the Negev Nuclear Research Center in Israel, researchers from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and international colleagues divided 294 workers in their fifties suffering from abdominal obesity into three dietary groups: a healthy dietary regimen, a Mediterranean diet and a green Mediterranean diet. They also gave them all a free gym membership. The workers underwent MRI scans to quantify their excess fat content before and after the trial. While results showed that all the diets led to liver fat reduction, NAFLD prevalence dropped from 62% at baseline to 31.5% in the green Mediterranean diet group, to 47.9% in the Mediterranean group and to 54.8% in the healthy dietary regimen group. The results were recently published in the Gut journal. The green Mediterranean diet prescribed to the nuclear research workers was rich in vegetables and included less processed and red meat. It also included a daily intake of 28 grams of walnuts and was enriched with green components including three to four cups of green tea every day and 100 grams of frozen cubes per day of a Mankai green shake. Mankai, also known as duckweed, is an aquatic green plant that is high in iron, B12, vitamins and minerals. A similar study at BGU last summer looked at the effect of a green Mediterranean diet on weight loss. “Addressing this common liver disease by targeted lifestyle intervention might promote a more effective nutritional strategy,” says Ben-Gurion’s Anat Yaskolka-Meir. “This clinical trial demonstrates an effective nutritional tool for NAFLD beyond weight loss.” To read the original article click here. For more articles from Israel21c click here.

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Is Cocoa Good for the Brain?

AHA Publisher — Mon, 03 Feb 2020 08:00:34 +0000

Mihaela Dimitrova, B.Sc. via News-Medical Net – One of the most fascinating scientific challenges is to enhance human cognitive abilities. Research interests have been focused on preventing age-related cognitive decline and sustaining optimal cognitive performance in cognitively demanding situations. Research has shown that cocoa and cocoa-derived products have many cardiovascular benefits. In recent years, neuromodulation and neuroprotective properties have also been suggested. Cocoa has been implicated to have the potential of counteracting cognitive decline and sustaining cognitive abilities through direct and indirect biological actions. What are Flavonoids? With age-related cognitive decline becoming a major health issue, scientists are becoming more aware of the modulating effects of food constituents on human health and have begun to explore a particular kind of plant metabolites called flavonoids. Cocoa beans are one of the richest sources of flavonoids, in particular, the flavanols subclass in the form of epicatechin and catechin. Another source of flavonoids, though in a lower concentration, is chocolate. Epidemiological studies have suggested that flavonoids are associated with several cognitive benefits such as the decreased risk of cognitive decline and dementia and a lowered risk of cognitive impairment. Mechanism of Action Increasing evidence supports the neurocognitive enhancement and neuroprotective benefits of cocoa. The neurobiological effects of flavonoids are mediated by several actions including their ability to protect vulnerable neurons, stimulate regeneration and enhance neural function. Flavonoids interact with the pathways involved in neural survival, long-term potentiation (LTP) and memory. Flavonoids interact with signaling proteins that are essential for pro-survival pathways. Through this interaction, flavonoids counteract neuronal injury which is the underlying cause of many neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. Flavonoids can cross the blood-brain barrier and have been located in areas important for memory and learning such as the hippocampus, cerebellum, cerebral cortex and the striatum. These areas are susceptible to neurodegeneration. Flavonoids have direct interactions with pathways crucial for triggering gene expression and protein synthesis in long-term potentiation. In the hippocampus, flavonoids promote the expression of a protein called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). BDNF is key in the process of adult neurogenesis, neuronal survival and synaptic growth. Flavonoids interact directly with cellular and molecular structures involved in memory function. Animal models indicate that this direct interaction is the mechanism of promotion of cognitive benefits. Cardiovascular Actions In addition to the direct action on memory functions, flavonoids exert an indirect effect on neurocognitive function via inducing cardiovascular actions. The consumption of cocoa and chocolate had been well established to have cardiovascular benefits such as the maintenance of normal blood flow and improvement of blood pressure. Flavanols such as epicatechin increase nitric oxide bioavailability which is crucial for regulating vascular function. This leads to improvements in vascular tone and improved regulation of blood pressure. These changes extend to brain perfusion which is the net pressure gradient causing cerebral blood flow to the brain. This causes a better cerebrovascular coupling during neuronal activation which is essential for the structural and functional integrity of the brain. These processes also promote adult neurogenesis in the hippocampus. Research has shown that flavanol-rich cocoa can have cognitive enhancement properties after a single administration via increasing the cerebral blood flow. Effects of Daily Intake of Cocoa on Cognition Research has addressed the effects of cocoa flavanols in normal ageing and clinical populations. Daily consumption of a flavanol-rich drink leads to improvements in cognitive performance in elderly people with early memory decline and healthy elderly population. This research compared the effects of low, medium and high concentration of flavanol on cognitive function. As compared to the low-flavanol condition, medium and high flavanol content consumed over eight weeks were linked to improved processing speed, executive function and working memory in individuals with mild cognitive impairment. A higher concentration of flavanol intake also led to improvements in verbal fluency. Several flavonoids have been implicated in restraining the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. They play a crucial role in maintaining the number and quality of neurons in key brain areas thus preventing the progression of neurodegeneration. Conclusion and Future Directions The benefits of the consumption of flavonoid-rich food have been widely researched demonstrating the potential pf flavonoids to lessen age-related cognitive decline and improve memory functions. These effects are exerted through flavonoids’ biological actions including neuroprotection and cognitive modulation. The accumulated evidence from research studies suggests that cocoa is beneficial for sustaining cognitive performance, improving measures of general cognitive abilities such as attention, memory and processing speed. These cognitive effects are mediated by direct neuroprotective actions and indirect actions of improving cerebrovascular and metabolic functions. Research converges on the point of proposing cocoa as a novel tool for the protection of human cognition and a way to counteract cognitive decline. Future research should focus on the identification of sensitive experimental measures of detecting flavonoid induced changes and characterization of appropriate dose and timing of flavonoid intervention as to reach beneficial effects in different populations. To read the original article click here.

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Lighting Up Cardiovascular Problems Using Nanoparticles

AHA Publisher — Wed, 11 Dec 2019 08:00:06 +0000

University of Southern California via EurekAlert – A new nanoparticle innovation that detects unstable calcifications that can trigger heart attacks and stroke may allow doctors to pinpoint when plaque on the walls of blood vessels becomes dangerous. Heart disease and stroke are the world’s two most deadly diseases, causing over 15 million deaths in 2016 according to the World Health Organization. A key underlying factor in both of these global health crises is the common condition, atherosclerosis, or the build-up of fatty deposits, inflammation and plaque on the walls of blood vessels. By the age of 40, around half of us will have this condition, many without symptoms. A new nanoparticle innovation from researchers in USC Viterbi’s Department of Biomedical Engineering may allow doctors to pinpoint when plaque becomes dangerous by detecting unstable calcifications that can trigger heart attacks and strokes. The research – from Ph.D. student Deborah Chin under the supervision of Eun Ji Chung, the Dr. Karl Jacob Jr. and Karl Jacob III Early-Career Chair, in collaboration with Gregory Magee, assistant professor of clinical surgery from Keck School of Medicine of USC — was published in the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Journal of Materials Chemistry B. When atherosclerosis occurs in coronary arteries, blockages due to plaque or calcification-induced ruptures can lead to a clot, cutting blood flow to the heart, which is the cause of most heart attacks. When the condition occurs in the vessels leading to the brain, it can cause a stroke. “An artery doesn’t need to be 80 percent blocked to be dangerous. An artery with 45% blockage by plaques could be more rupture-prone,” Chung said. “Just because it’s a big plaque doesn’t necessarily mean it’s an unstable plaque.” Chung said that when small calcium deposits, called microcalcifications, form within arterial plaques, the plaque can become rupture prone. However, identifying whether blood vessel calcification is unstable and likely to rupture is particularly difficult using traditional CT and MRI scanning methods, or angiography, which has other risks. “Angiography requires the use of catheters that are invasive and have inherent risks of tissue damage,” said Chin, the lead author. “CT scans on the other hand, involve ionizing radiation which can cause other detrimental effects to tissue.” Chung said that the resolution limitations of traditional imaging offers doctors a “bird’s eye view” of larger-sized calcification, which may not necessarily be dangerous. “If the calcification is on the micro scale, it can be harder to pick out,” she said. The research team developed a nanoparticle, known as a micelle, which attaches itself and lights up calcification to make it easier for smaller blockages that are prone to rupture to be seen during imaging. Chin said the micelles are able to specifically target hydroxyapatite, a unique form of calcium present in arteries and atherosclerotic plaques. “Our micelle nanoparticles demonstrate minimal toxicity to cells and tissue and are highly specific to hydroxyapatite calcifications,” Chin said. “Thus, this minimizes the uncertainty in identifying harmful vascular calcifications.” The team has tested their nanoparticle on calcified cells in a dish, within a mouse model of atherosclerosis, as well as using patient-derived artery samples provided by vascular surgeon, Magee, which shows their applicability not only in small animals but in human tissues. “In our case, we demonstrated that our nanoparticle binds to calcification in the most commonly used mouse model for atherosclerosis and also works in calcified vascular tissue derived from patients,” Chin said. Chung said that the next step for the team was to harness the micelle particles to be used in targeted drug therapy to treat calcification in arteries, rather than just as means of detecting the potential blockages. “The idea behind nanoparticles and nanomedicine is that it can be a carrier like the Amazon carrier system, shuttling drugs right to a specific address or location in the body, and not to places that you don’t want it to go to,” Chung said. “Hopefully that can allow for lower dosages, but high efficacy at the disease site without hurting normal cells and organ processes,” she said. To read the original article click here.

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