The recipe for a heart attack: lean on fat!
Fatty protects the heart in case of a heart attack
CNews R&D based on the materials of the University of Cincinnati:
Short-Term, High-Fat Diet May Initiate Protection During Heart AttackResearchers at the University of Cincinnati have found in animal experiments that eating fat-rich foods for short periods of time protects the heart during myocardial infarction and helps to reduce areas of damage to the heart muscle.
According to the authors, the results of earlier studies indicate that high serum cholesterol increases the likelihood of survival of patients who have suffered an ischemic myocardial infarction. Experiments in which scientists kept animals with simulated myocardial infarction on a fat-rich diet for a long time demonstrated an improvement in heart function and modulation of activity profiles of genes with cardioprotective properties.
The researchers decided to check whether short-term consumption of fats has similar effects. To do this, they kept one group of mice on a fat–rich diet (60% of calories in the form of saturated fats) for 2 weeks or less, the second group on a similar diet for 6 weeks, and the control group on a standard diet consisting of grains and vegetables.
After that, myocardial infarction was induced in all animals and its consequences were assessed by analyzing changes in the work of the heart and the size of the areas of damage to the heart muscle. It turned out that short-term consumption of fats (for 2 or less weeks) reduced the severity of myocardial infarction-induced damage by 70% compared with the damage observed in animals of the other two groups.
These observations indicate that it is the short duration that is the key aspect of the cardioprotective effect of a fat-rich diet. This is not surprising, since prolonged abuse of fats is fraught with the development of obesity and diabetes mellitus, which negatively affects the state of the cardiovascular system as a whole.
Moreover, it turned out that a 24-hour fat-rich diet, after which the animals were transferred to a 24-hour control diet, also contributed to a decrease in the severity of damage caused by induced myocardial infarction.
The researchers note that in order to find out the mechanisms by which the use of fats triggers protective reactions in the body, further detailed study of the issue is necessary. They also emphasize that the results indicate the need to revise current recommendations on healthy eating.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru20.04.2011