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HowToPreventHeartDisease.com |
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How Is Obesity Related To Heart Disease And Hypertension? The harmful effects of obesity on the diseased heart have long been well established. According to a report published on December 26, 1953 in the ‘Journal of the American Medical Association’ (JAMA), there was overwhelming evidence that people who are obese have a much higher mortality rate from heart disease than those of average or lower weight. The difference could be as high as 60 percent for men who are 25 percent or more overweight. Obesity also predisposes one to hypertension (high blood pressure) and changes the course of hypertensive cardiovascular disease (heart disease and stroke). A paper published in 2009 in ‘Ochsner Journal’ argued that the strong association of obesity with diabetes further complicates both the picture in patients with hypertension and the design of effective therapeutic interventions. A study conducted by researchers from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece suggested in May 2010 in journal ‘Hypertension Resource’ (official journal of the Japanese Society of Hypertension) that obesity should be considered as a chronic medical condition that is probably require long-term treatment. According to their findings, during the early phases of obesity, primary sodium retention exists. Extracellular-fluid volume is expanded and the kidney-fluid apparatus is reset to a hypertensive level. Insulin resistance and inflammation may promote a changed profile of vascular function and consequently hypertension. Leptin and other neuropeptides are possible links between obesity and the development of hypertension. There is no doubt that obesity, heart disease, and hypertension are all related. But to undercover the molecular pathways that underlie the cause and effect would never be an easy task.
Recently, researchers from University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine, Iowa City identified a protein known as mTORC1 within certain brain cells as a communications hub for controlling blood pressure, and suggested that abnormal activation of this protein might be a mechanism that associates cardiovascular disease and obesity with elevated blood pressure. mTORC1 is found in the hypothalamus, which is a small region of the brain that is meant to maintain normal function for numerous bodily processes, body temperature, and glucose levels. Previous study had indicated that signaling of mTORC1 protein in the hypothalamus affects food intake and body weight. Published on March 28, 2013 in the journal ‘Cell Metabolism’, the study showed that small molecules and hormones that are associated with obesity and cardiovascular disease activate the mTORC1 protein. Such activation can cause a dramatic raise in blood pressure. Being an amino acid that can be obtained from food, leucine is known to activate mTORC1. By activating mTORC1 in rat brains with leucine, activity in the nerves that connect the brain to the kidney is raised, and a hike in blood pressure is observed. On the other hand, the rise in blood pressure because of leucine could be suppressed if mTORC1 activation were blocked. Leucine can be found in various foods like soybeans, almonds, milk and beef. Previous studies have shown the correlation between elevated levels of leucine and an increased risk of hypertension in patients with cardiovascular disease. The new findings might, therefore, have direct clinical relevance. mTORC1 had also been suggested by previous works to be a signaling hub for leptin, a hormone produced by fat cells that has been implicated in obesity-related hypertension. The new study found that leptin activates mTORC1 in a specific part of the hypothalamus causing increased nerve activity and a rise in blood pressure. Inhibiting activation of mTORC1 can block these effects. In conclusion, the researchers stressed that any abnormality in mTORC1’s activity might explain the hypertension associated with certain conditions like obesity and cardiovascular disease, given the importance of this protein for the control of blood pressure. By targeting mTORC1 pathways, it is hoped that cardiovascular risk factors can be well managed, leading to better treatments for hypertension in patients with cardiovascular disease and obesity.
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