Researchers reveal link between obesity and heart disease

Researchers were recently able to find new links between obesity and heart disease.

The study led by James A Hamilton, PhD, professor of Physiology, Biophysics and Radiology at Boston University School of Medicine, applied novel methods to detect binding of fatty acids to CD36 and their effect on internalisation of oxidized LDL.

Although other research groups have characterised a fatty acid binding site on CD36 and postulated CD36 to be a gatekeeper for fatty acid entry into cells, the Hamilton lab previously found that CD36 did not increase fatty acid translocation across the plasma membrane.

In the current study all of the common dietary fatty acid types (saturated, unsaturated, trans and polyunsaturated) were shown by a new assay to bind to CD36 at levels greater than expected for a single binding site characterised in previous studies.

In cells with CD36 present in the plasma membrane, all of the fatty acids also enhanced oxidized LDL uptake, except for the fish oil fatty acid DHA. This current study added to the possible mechanisms for fish oil benefits that are now widely recognised.

Hamilton said that since obesity and type 2 diabetes are characterised by high plasma levels of fatty acids, the demonstrated enhancement of oxLDL uptake by increases in common dietary fatty acids might contribute to the pathophysiology of these diseases. The new results provided a link between fatty acids, CD36, and atherosclerosis and new drugscould be designed that target the exact mechanism more precisely, he further added.

The study is published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.

Twitter May Tell Your Risk of Cardiovascular Disease

What you tweet tells so much more than your personality. It can also be a good indication of your heart health, one study reveals.

There already more than a million Twitter users all around the globe, making it one of the most influential social media platforms. In fact, some experts consider it as live TV since Internet users, whether they are officially on Twitter or not, can get real-time updates about any significant event in a matter of seconds.

It also doesn’t come as a surprise that researchers are using it as a tool for their work. In a brand-new study, however, the website has become the subject, especially in determining a person’s risk of cardiovascular disease.

A group of health experts at University of Pennsylvania pored over 135 million tweets for a year, between 2009 and 2010. These tweets were chosen randomly. They then took note of the messages users shared and compared data from Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The researchers didn’t have any access to the personal medical records of these Twitter users.

Upon analysis, they found out that there’s a correlation between mortality rates and the sources (place of origin) of these tweets.

According to Johannes Eichstaedt, the lead researcher and a PhD student in the university, places whose residents often post Twitter messages associated with fatigue, hospitalization, and hatred are more likely to experience a higher mortality rate, especially due to a cardiovascular problem.

Conversely, places whose people tend to have a more positive outlook, based on their tweets, may experience a lower death rate due to cardiovascular disease.

Many factors can affect a person’s risk level to cardiovascular disease. For example, it’s more common among older people and that men are more susceptible to it than women.

However, a person’s emotion, particularly negative, can also has an impact to overall cardiovascular health.