Biologically lethal additives
"Healthy" supplements cripple the heart
Alla Solodova, Infox.ruOne of the main components of cardio-hepatic dietary supplements – lecithin – clogs blood vessels and kills people.
Anti-heart dietary supplements were found by molecular biologists when they were looking for markers of heart disease.
Both doctors and non-specialists know that improper nutrition provokes problems with the heart and blood vessels. Both fats and carbohydrates can hit the vascular system. Frightened by the risk of premature death, people buy biologically active dietary supplements, which, according to the assurances of pharmaceutical companies, should neutralize the danger. Researchers from research centers in the United States, led by Dr. Zeneng Wang from the Cleveland Clinic, have found that some such supplements activate the growth of atherosclerotic plaques.
Atherosclerosis without cholesterolIt has been proven that the more a person consumes fats (triglycerides), the higher the level of "bad" cholesterol that settles on the walls of blood vessels.
"The formation of atherosclerotic plaques can be influenced by infections, their own microflora and phospholipids – fats, which include a residue of phosphoric acid," the authors of the new study write, noting that not only fatty foods hit the heart.
Scientists explain that their own intestinal bacteria (microflora) is a filter that copes with the daily toxic load of food. The same filter can also poison the body with secondary toxins – processed products, including useful food additives (intermediate and final metabolites). "It has been proven that the intestinal microflora can provoke non–alcoholic degeneration of the liver and diabetes mellitus," writes Tseneng Wang. "It all depends on which bacteria live in the intestine and what they eat."
Supplements against the heartScientists examined the blood of healthy volunteers and patients who had survived heart attacks, strokes or heart attacks.
Blood samples of those patients who have already died from cardiovascular diseases also came into view.
"We isolated eighteen molecules that distinguished the blood of sick people from healthy ones," the scientists write in the article Gut flora metabolism of phosphatidylcholine promotes cardiovascular disease, published in Nature.
Biologists have noticed that there is too much choline, betaine and trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO) in the blood of living and deceased cores – products of the "processing" of phosphatidylcholines (lecithins), which are contained in milk, eggs, fish and red meat and other useful animal products.
In experiments with radioisotopes, scientists have confirmed that the source of these compounds is food enriched with lecithins. Biologists conducted an experiment on animals with microflora slightly "etched" with antibiotics. It turned out that in an almost sterile intestine, lecithins and choline do not degenerate into provocateurs of atherosclerosis – TMAO. The researchers described the scheme of biological transformation of lecithins into TMAO:
Entering the body with animal food, lecithins turn into choline. The intestinal microflora "digests" choline into trimethylamine (TMA), which, under the influence of liver enzymes (flavin monooxygenase, FMO), turns into trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO).
Mice will die from additivesThe researchers rechecked the results on mice prone to atherosclerosis (C57BL/6J Apoe–/–).
Three groups of rodents lived in the same conditions, with the same level of physical activity. Some ate normal food, the diet of other mice was enriched with choline or TMAO. Twenty weeks later, the scientists tested mouse blood and blood vessels. It turned out that the higher the content of choline or TMAO in the diet of animals, the more TMAO was contained in plasma. And, most importantly, the more TMAO was in the blood, the more clogged the vessels were. That is, both the size and the number of atherosclerotic plaques directly depend on the concentration of TMAO in the blood.
In a clinical study with heart patients, scientists did not find a reliable relationship between cholesterol levels and TMAO concentration. However, when doctors "enlightened" the vessels of patients, it turned out that in humans, as in mice, the "clutteriness" of the vessels depends on the concentration of TMAO in the blood.
"Choline is an essential component of a healthy diet. Since choline deficiency leads to non–alcoholic degeneration of the liver and atrophy of muscle tissue, it began to be used as a dietary supplement – to improve the liver and strengthen muscles," the researchers explain. Biochemists draw attention to the fact that lecithins (from which choline is formed) are used as a dietary supplement useful for the heart, despite the lack of reliable data on its usefulness: "It is believed that lecithin protects the heart. However, there is no convincing data on this," write the reviewers of the article Kimberly Rak (Kimberly Rak) and Daniel Rader (Daniel Rader).
"Additional lecithins and choline (coming together with dietary supplements) may be the cause of cardiovascular diseases," the authors of the article summarize. The researchers draw attention to the fact that there are many low–fat sources of these useful and necessary components of nutrition in nature, so excessive reckless recovery with them can harm a person: "Everything depends on the microflora, which has yet to be thoroughly dealt with," the researchers warn.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru11.04.2011