Many of us know that obesity can trigger various health problems, many of these issues become chronic. Now a new research tells us that obesity that results from a high-fat diet may cause the body’s immune system to increase inflammation, which then raises the risk of getting cardiovascular diseases, heart attacks, and strokes.
This study is published in the journal, Cell Metabolism, financially funded by the British Heart Foundation, and conducted by Queen Mary University of London. Author and Professor at Queen Mary, Federica Marelli-Berg, says that the study shows a direct link from obesity related to a high-fat foods diet, to increased inflammation that may cause an increased risk of heart disease and stroke. This study could help develop new treatments for obese patients suffering from high risks of heart disease by targeting the problem of increased inflammation.
The new study also showed that obese patients had a higher than usual number of T cells. Though T cells help to protect the body from infections, they can also help add to increased inflammation. Professor Marelli-Berg and her research colleagues, took blood samples from over 1100 participants. When these blood samples were analyzed, the study showed that the obese participants had a higher number of T cells than those who did not suffer from obesity. They also found that those who carried more of their fat around the midriff were at higher risk of having a larger T cell count, which then led to increased inflammation and increased risk of cardiovascular disease.
One of the conclusions that came from this study states that there may be an option for certain cancer drugs to be re- purposed as heart disease drugs. This conclusion came about after a study with mice also showed that the mice fed on high-fat diets had a higher T cell count than those who were fed with normal diets. This study solidified the findings that high-fat diets can caus a T cell bias which allowed for more T cell growth. Cancer drugs are already in the testing process that will address these links, from high-fat caused obesity, to a higher T cell count, and so it only made sense to see that in the future these drugs could also be used for various forms of heart diseases.
The information from these new studies was relayed to the medical and general community by Catherine Paddock, PhD of Medical News Today.
photo credit: Medical News Today