[PHNUTR-L] Research Sheds New Light on Cholesterol Dangers

[Kathrynne Holden, MS, RD]

Colleagues, the following is FYI and does not necessarily reflect my own
opinion. I have no further knowledge of the topic.
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Source: Michigan State University 	  	
Released: Mon 29-Aug-2005, 10:20 ET

Research Sheds New Light on Cholesterol Dangers
http://www.newswise.com/articles/view/514075/?sc=dwhp

Newswise — Research by a Michigan State University cardiologist 
published in the September edition of Clinical Cardiology has shed new 
light on the role that cholesterol plays in causing heart attacks, 
strokes and other cardiovascular events in humans.

The work of George Abela, a professor in MSU’s Department of Medicine 
and chief of the department’s cardiology section, finds that cholesterol 
that has built up along the wall of an artery and crystallized from a 
liquid to a solid state can expand and then burst, sending material into 
the bloodstream.

It is this chain of events – the expansion of the liquid cholesterol as 
it crystallizes into a solid – that kick-starts the body’s natural 
clotting process which, unfortunately in this case, works against the 
body, essentially shutting down the artery.

“As the cholesterol crystallizes, two things can happen,” Abela said. 
“If it’s a big pool of cholesterol, it will expand and just tear the cap 
off the deposit in the arterial wall. Or the crystals, which are sharp, 
needle-like structures, poke their way through the membrane covering the 
cholesterol deposit, like nails through wood.”

It is the presence of the cholesterol crystals and other debris material 
released by the plaque rupture into the bloodstream that activates the 
clotting mechanism.

“What the clotting system is doing is reacting to an injury in the 
artery,” he said. “Once a rupture or erosion of the surface of the 
artery occurs, then the clotting system is activated to do its job.”

Abela compared the crystallization of the cholesterol to putting a 
plastic bottle of water into a freezer. Over time the water freezes and 
expands, pushing its way out of the bottle or breaking the bottle 
altogether.

What this work also means is that physicians and other health care 
providers now have another weapon in their arsenal against 
cardiovascular disease.

“So far, treatments have not been focused on this process,” Abela said. 
“Now we have a target to attack with the various approaches we have. In 
the past, we’ve treated the various stages that lead to this final 
stage, rather than preventing or treating this final stage of the 
condition.”

Abela stressed that it remains imperative that people use diet and 
exercise to keep cholesterol levels low.

“This really drives the point home how important cholesterol control can 
be,” he said.

Until now, scientists had thought that inflammation of the wall had 
caused the breakdown of the cap that kept the cholesterol in the 
arterial plaque from rupturing. Abela said his findings don’t 
necessarily discount the inflammation theory, but rather add another 
dimension to it.

“As the crystals form, they dig their way through the wall of the 
artery, and that may be a trigger for the inflammation,” he said. 
“Inflammation is a normal mechanism, one that kicks in to repair the 
damage. That is why it is common to see inflammation at the site of 
these events.”

The research was conducted in Abela’s lab, research that he said was “as 
simple as science can get.”

Essentially, Abela and colleagues took varying amounts of cholesterol, 
reduced it to a liquid form, and then watched it expand as it 
solidified. In doing so, it tore through thin biological membranes.

“After the cholesterol crystallized, its volume was about 45 percent 
larger than what we started with,” he said. “And the entire process took 
all of about three minutes.”
-- 
Kathrynne Holden, MS, RD < fivestar at nutritionucanlivewith.com >
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