Disease 'can strengthen hearts'
Updated on 01 October 2007
Patients who survive coronary disease develop stronger hearts which are more effective at fighting any further damage, a new study suggests.
Researchers at Bristol University identified the heart protection mechanism in mice fed a high-fat "Western diet".
They found that when they mimicked a heart by-pass operation on mice with coronary artery disease they were more resistant to heart damage than mice fed a normal rodent diet.
The "unhealthy" mice appeared to have "preconditioned" their hearts and developed an in-built protection against further damage, the study claimed.
The findings could help surgeons and cardiologists improve treatments for preventable disease, which kills 70,000 people in the UK every year.
Professor Saadeh Suleiman, who led the research, said: "We have shown that in mice prone to developing coronary artery disease, a Western-style diet accelerates the progression of disease but that hearts with coronary disease then became more resistant to further damage, such as occurs during surgery.
"But it is still better to avoid surgery altogether by adopting healthy eating habits."
The research, is published in the October issue of the American journal Critical Care Medicine, and was funded by the British Heart Foundation.
Professor Jeremy Pearson, Associate Medical Director of the British Heart Foundation, said: "These findings take an important step towards untangling the heart's complex protective mechanisms, which will help researchers devise treatments to reduce the risks for patients during heart surgery."
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