Are blood vessels too oily and toxic? Research: High blood lipids may kill cells and worsen various chronic diseases!
Hyperlipidemia, hyperglycemia and high blood pressure are collectively known as the “three highs” and are particularly common among Taiwanese who have “the fattest physique in Asia”. Generally speaking, the public pays more attention to measuring blood pressure and blood sugar. However, blood lipid examination is often ignored by Taiwanese people because it requires blood drawing and instrument analysis.
In fact, hyperlipidemia is not only a risk factor for diabetes and cardiovascular disease. An article published in the authoritative journal Nature even pointed out that if various chronic diseases are combined with hyperlipidemia, it may accelerate the apoptosis of healthy cells in the body and make the disease more serious. It is difficult to get good treatment.
“Ceramide” triggers lipotoxicity. The higher the concentration, the more dangerous it is.
The key to the exacerbation of chronic diseases caused by high blood lipids lies in a substance called “long-chain ceramide”. The University of Leeds in the UK exposed skeletal muscle cells to a fatty acid called “palmitic acid”; and extracted blood lipid concentration data from patients with chronic diseases from humans with metabolic diseases and copied them to experimental mice.
The research team found that when blood lipid cells in mice are mixed with cells that have not been exposed to fat before, they will transmit messages to each other in the “vesicles” in the cells and secrete “endoplasmic reticulum stress-inducing substances” as a Secretes signals of chronic lipotoxicity. Chronic lipotoxicity will further trigger the “unfolded protein response” (UPR), which makes proteins unable to fold into secondary structures due to various reasons, and then accumulate in the endoplasmic reticulum, adversely affecting cells.
Previous studies have found that ceramide is related to the development of metabolic diseases and the regulation of endoplasmic reticulum stress; and ceramide and dihydroceramide concentrations in plasma and tissues are associated with certain cardiometabolic diseases. . This study claims that obese mice exposed to a Westernized diet and humans suffering from type 2 diabetes have increased plasma and muscle concentrations of medium- and long-chain ceramides.
Lipotoxic reactions worsen chronic diseases. “Excessive obesity” should pay attention to potential risks.
Study author Lee Roberts pointed out that the lipotoxic reaction caused by ceramide may indeed cause serious exacerbation of chronic diseases. Although ceramides are part of a mechanism that reduces cellular stress and are protective for a certain period of time, in patients with chronic diseases, increased concentrations of fat in the blood can create stress in muscle cells, which in turn can damage nerves. Amides send signals to kill cells, worsening patients’ chronic diseases.
Roberts said that global obesity rates have almost tripled since 1975. In 2016, more than 650 million adults over the age of 18 were obese; many of them were combined with hyperlipidemia or other high-fat diseases, which require more attention and prevention from relevant units. He also believes that people should pay close attention to changes in blood lipids in the body and conduct regular body health examinations to help prevent the occurrence and worsening of chronic diseases.
“As obesity becomes an epidemic in modern society, the related chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease require new treatments. We hope that the results of this study will open up a new way to solve the current common problems in developed The nation’s obesity problem,” Roberts said.
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