By Sharon Begley
NEW YORK, April 24 (Reuters) - Thousands of heart attack victims every year have none of the notorious risk factors before their crisis - not high cholesterol, not unhealthy triglycerides. Now the search for the mystery culprits has turned up some surprising suspects: the trillions of bacteria and other microbes living in the human gut.
In a study released on Wednesday, scientists discovered that some of the bugs turn lecithin - a nutrient in egg yolks, liver, beef, pork and wheat germ - into an artery-clogging compound called TMAO. They also found that blood levels of TMAO predict heart attack, stroke or death, and do so "independent of other risk factors," said Dr Stanley Hazen, chairman of cellular and molecular medicine at the Cleveland Clinic's Lerner Research Institute, who led the study.
That suggests a TMAO test could enter the arsenal of blood tests that signal possible cardiovascular problems ahead. "TMAO might identify people who are at risk (for heart attacks and strokes) despite having no other risk factors," Hazen said.
The discovery also suggests a new approach to preventing these cardiovascular events: altering gut bacteria so they churn out less TMAO.
The study joins a growing list of findings that link human "microbiota" - microbes in the gut, nose and genital tract, and on the skin - to health and disease. Research has shown that certain species of gut bacteria protect against asthma, for instance, while others affect the risk of obesity. Last week scientists reported that circumcision alters bacteria in the penis, and that this change (not only the anatomical one) helps protect men from HIV/AIDS, probably by reducing the number of bacteria that live in oxygen-free environments such as under the foreskin.
"It's very strong work," Dr Martin Blaser of New York University Langone Medical Center, a pioneer in studies of the microbiota, said of the TMAO study. "They show clearly that human microbiota play a key role in producing TMAO, suggesting new approaches to prevention and treatment" of cardiovascular disease.
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/2 ... 49663.html
Hi, A large study in New York links H-pylori and asthma. Years ago a news report on CBS stated that " bacteria is the cause for diabetes ". That was the last report about this. This raises the question, what would doctors do if there were chronic diseases caused by bacterias, virus's and improper diet and nutrition. Jon
Hi Deb,
I find it curious that they blame this problem on the conversion of natural lecithin sources (found in eggs, liver, pork, beef, and other whole foods), but strangely enough, they don't mention all the lecithin that is added to processed foods. Not only do I find that curious, I find it suspicious, as if they have an agenda. I can't help but wonder who is funding the research. Color me suspicious.
Think for a moment about what they are saying. I can see how wheat might be a problem, because wheat is a neolithic food. But when they claim that paleo foods (that our ancestors ate for millions of years) provide the feedstock for gut bacteria (that have also been with us since the beginning of time), resulting in the production of artery-clogging deposits that trigger adverse cardiovascular events, I find that a bit counterintuitive, to say the least. IMO, they are almost certainly misinterpreting the data (just as researchers misinterpreted the data that led to the conclusion that cholesterol is a cause of adverse cardiovascular events).
If medial researchers actually knew what they were doing, they wouldn't have to be going back to the drawing board to find new reasons for the development of diseases, every few decades, because the old reasons (that they defined a few decades earlier) are obviously flawed.
Tex
I find it curious that they blame this problem on the conversion of natural lecithin sources (found in eggs, liver, pork, beef, and other whole foods), but strangely enough, they don't mention all the lecithin that is added to processed foods. Not only do I find that curious, I find it suspicious, as if they have an agenda. I can't help but wonder who is funding the research. Color me suspicious.
Think for a moment about what they are saying. I can see how wheat might be a problem, because wheat is a neolithic food. But when they claim that paleo foods (that our ancestors ate for millions of years) provide the feedstock for gut bacteria (that have also been with us since the beginning of time), resulting in the production of artery-clogging deposits that trigger adverse cardiovascular events, I find that a bit counterintuitive, to say the least. IMO, they are almost certainly misinterpreting the data (just as researchers misinterpreted the data that led to the conclusion that cholesterol is a cause of adverse cardiovascular events).
If medial researchers actually knew what they were doing, they wouldn't have to be going back to the drawing board to find new reasons for the development of diseases, every few decades, because the old reasons (that they defined a few decades earlier) are obviously flawed.
Tex
It is suspected that some of the hardest material known to science can be found in the skulls of GI specialists who insist that diet has nothing to do with the treatment of microscopic colitis.
