Eating a diet high in saturated fat and breathing polluted city air can dangerously promote heart disease through atherosclerosis. Pollution particles cause lung inflammation and damage artery walls, leading to plaque buildup. A study found that mice fed a high-fat diet and exposed to polluted air had 42% of blood vessels clogged, compared to 19% for normal-diet mice in pollution and 13% for high-fat mice in filtered air. Pollution combined with an unhealthy diet increased cholesterol levels and blood vessel abnormalities in mice genetically prone to heart issues.
1. FAT DIET AND POLLUTION: A DANGEROUS COCKTAIL FOR HEART
Breathe everyday polluted air of our cities at rush hour and have a diet high in saturated fat
promotes atherosclerosis, that is to say, the appearance of fatty deposits on artery walls,
which can cause a particular myocardial infarction.
We are millions to face everyday pollution of the big cities to get to work. Frequent, even
short exposure to particularly high levels of pollution, such as those during the peak hours in
the large cities, can promote atherosclerosis, the development of cholesterol deposits
(atherosclerotic plaques) on the walls arteries. And the risk is especially great for people
who eat too much fat, that is to say, whose diet is too high in saturated fat, especially if they
are already at risk of developing cardiovascular disease.
Installation of atherosclerosis
It appears that when the particles of pollution into the lungs, they cause an inflammatory
response in the lung cells which, in turn, trigger an inflammation of the artery walls, which
then leads to the formation of atherosclerotic plaques and atherosclerosis. The particles of
pollution may also affect the blood vessels in preventing them from expanding, which is also
a manifestation of atherosclerosis.
Of Mice and Men
The New York researchers responsible for the study observed in laboratory mice they did
breathe polluted air, associated with power plant emissions, exhaust gas cars, dust, soot and
cigarette smoke. The 28 mice experience had all been genetically modified to be at risk of
heart disease. They were divided into two groups: one with a normal diet and the other a
high-fat diet. For 6 months, half the mice in each group breathed polluted air and the other
filtered air. The researchers studied the state of the aorta and its division of each mouse
branches and made the following observations: - those normally eating and breathing
polluted air had 19% of their vessels clogged with atherosclerotic plaques, 13% for a
breathable air filter.- among those subjected to a fatty diet and breathing polluted air, 42%
of the examined vessels were clogged with atherosclerotic plaques, 26% of those breathing
air filter.- mice breathing polluted air had higher cholesterol levels, they normally eat or
pas.- mice exposed to pollution had abnormal dilation of blood vessels, while those subject
to fat diet (no matter how good air breathed) showed even greater damage.
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