Studies Of Genes Have Shown An Link Between The Level Of Blood Fat And Heart Disease

Studies Of Genes Have Shown An Link Between The Level Of Blood Fat And Heart Disease.
Scientists have desire debated the lines triglyceride levels might margin in heart disease, and finally they have genetic evidence linking strong concentrations of the blood fat to an increased risk of heart trouble. Until now, cholesterol levels were the frequency targets of heart disease prevention efforts, but experts chance a new report in the May 8 issue of The Lancet may revise that thinking.

Triglycerides, a larger source of human energy, are produced by the liver or derived from foods. "Despite several decades of research, it has remained unascertainable whether raised levels of triglyceride can cause heart disease," said lead researcher Nadeem Sarwar, a lecturer in cardiovascular epidemiology at the University of Cambridge in England. "We found that kin with a genetically programmed propensity for higher triglyceride levels also had a greater risk of heart disease".

So "This suggests that triglyceride pathways may be snarled in the development of heart disease". To tour a genetic link between triglycerides and heart disease, Sarwar's team collected data on 302430 grass roots who participated in 101 studies. "We employed novel genetic approaches - self-styled 'Mendelian randomization analysis,'" he said.

Specifically, the researchers looked at mutations in the apolipoprotein A5 gene, a known determinant of triglyceride concentrations. They found that for every copy of the variant, there was a 16 percent prolong in triglyceride concentrations, so two copies increased triglyceride levels 32 percent. People with two such variants had a 40 percent increased danger of developing middle disease, the researchers calculated.

Although these genetic findings reveal a causative role for triglyceride pathways in the development of crux disease, they do not replace the need for large randomized clinical trials of medications that lower blood triglyceride levels. uch trials should daily establish whether reducing triglyceride concentration can degrade the risk of heart disease. "There are several medications currently available or under development that can influence blood triglyceride levels". Drug maker Novartis, the British Heart Foundation and the UK Medical Research Council funded the study.

Dr Gregg C Fonarow, a professor of cardiovascular medication and kingpin of the Ahmanson-UCLA Cardiomyopathy Center at the University of California, Los Angeles, also said more investigating is needed. "Elevated LDL cholesterol has been definitively established as a biggest modifiable cardiovascular jeopardy factor. There is also strong evidence that low levels of HDL identify individuals at increased gamble for cardiovascular events. However, the independent role that elevated triglyceride levels conduct in cardiovascular risk has been more difficult to establish and controversial".

This study suggests a modest independent comradeship between triglycerides and coronary heart disease. "Despite these findings it still remains to be demonstrated whether lowering triglyceride levels in patients with - or at imperil for - cardiovascular disease will in and of itself reduce the risk of cardiovascular events and if so by how much".

Another expert, Dr Byron Lee, an aid professor of cardiology at the University of California, San Francisco, suggested the look at could alter the guidelines for heart prevention. "Traditionally, clinicians have focused only on getting our patients' LDL down and our HDL up because we anticipation that these were the major players in heart disease reloramax. However, this mug up indicates that we need to now worry about high triglyceride levels as well".