You mnay want to modify your stashed food items. . .!

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So load up on the Nestle canned cream, the powdered butter, the pheasant under glass, whatever!

ISSUE 1605 Sunday 17 October 1999

Bacteria blamed for heart attacks By Robert Matthews, Science Correspondent, and Jacqui Thornton, Health Correspondent

Heart health - British Heart Foundation Heart news - Heart Information Network Curious Heart

HEART attacks may be infectious and caused by common microbes, according to startling new research.

Diet and smoking are currently the two most common factors blamed for the tens of thousands of deaths related to heart disease in Britain every year, yet many victims are non-smokers who eat "healthy" diets. Now scientists have discovered that just breathing in bacteria-laden air can trigger serious heart disease.

James Le Fanu, the Sunday Telegraph columnist, writer and general practitioner, said the research, by the French National Institute for Health and Medical Research in Paris, was well-founded. He said: "It's one in the eye for all those dreary diet fanatics."

Heart disease is the biggest single cause of death in industrialised countries, including Britain, and is linked to atherosclerosis, or "clogged arteries". For years the condition has been blamed primarily on diet and smoking, yet doctors admit that many heart attack victims show no obvious risk factors.

Medical scientists now suspect that common microbes may be to blame, after studies of heart disease patients showing very high levels of bacteria in plaques blocking their blood vessels. The Paris research has strengthened the link by showing that mice exposed to air containing microbes suffered damage to their circulation system. The damage - in the form of plaques - was exactly like that already linked to heart disease in humans.

Dr Alain Tedgui and his team also found that the risk from bacteria-related damage was far greater if a naturally occurring protein called IL-10 was lacking. Those mice unable to produce IL-10 were found to have blood vessels 30 times more clogged than other mice. The walls of the vessels were also found to be four times more likely to rupture, with potentially fatal results.

The team believes that the findings have implications for treating heart disease and preventing heart attacks, as IL-10 is also produced by humans. About 55 per cent of the human population produces IL-10 in high levels, but as many as 10 per cent - more than five million people in Britain alone - produce low levels. The researchers believe that people in this group may fall victim to bacterial-related heart disease and suffer heart attacks despite not having any other risk factor, such as obesity or cigarette smoking.

According to Dr Tedgui, the finding also raises the possibility of cutting the death-rate by identifying those with low levels of IL-10 and giving them an artificial version to protect against the heart-disease bacteria. The link between blood vessel damage and IL-10 might also explain why heart disease tends to run in families: levels of IL-10 are known to be linked to genetic factors.

Prof Sir Charles George, the medical director of the British Heart Foundation, said: "These new findings are extremely interesting, and sit comfortably with what we already know about heart disease. There are many factors we cannot as yet explain about who develops the disease, and this could be a route to explaining those."

Dr Le Fanu said that he now firmly believed that heart disease had a biological bacterial cause, not related to diet. He stressed that this did not mean that people should not take exercise and continue to smoke, but he said people should not be bullied into eating the "right" foods.

Dr Le Fanu said: "The link between diet and heart disease has been a central pillar of the bullying of the public to change their ways. This exposes how wrong all these experts have been over the last 10 years and raises questions about how, on such an important issue, we have been misled.

"Heart disease was rare in the Twenties, peaked in the Sixties and Seventies, and declined as precipitously. There is no correlation between changing patterns of heart disease and food consumption."

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), October 17, 1999

Answers

Thanks Old Git. Interesting information.

-- Nancy (HAYSandCO@aol.com), October 17, 1999.

QUESTION? WHAT IS IL-10? HOW DOES ONE TALK TO ONE'S DOCTOR WITHOUT BEING LOOKED UPON AS A #1 FIRST CLASS IDIOT? I TRIED ASKING A QUESTION ABOUT MY CONDITION (AFTER DYING AND BEING BROUGHT BACK), AND WAS TOLD THAT "THAT IS A TECHNICAL QUESTION AND WHEN I HAVE GONE TO MEDICAL SCHOOL FOR 8 YEARS, I MAY ASK IT AND IN THE MEANTIME, I SHOULD JUST DO WHAT I'M TOLD". NEEDLESS TO SAY, QUESTION WENT UNANSWERED, AND YES, I DO DO WHAT I AM TOLD TO DO. I TOO HAD NONE OF THE SYMPTOMS FOR HAVING A MASSIVE HEART ATTACK OTHER THAN A SEVERELY STRESSFUL JOB, WHICH I HAVE SINCE GONE BACK TO. YOUR HELP WOULD BE APPRECIATED. I'D LOVE TO HAVE BUTTER ON MY POTATOES!

THANKS A LOT,

JANE

-- Jane Hoyt (jbr@gtminet.net), October 17, 1999.


Jane, given an aswer like that from my doctor I'm afraid I would turn the air blue with profane outrage! My doctor explains everything to the point where I sometimes have to say, "Oh just get on with it, I only need a summary!" Here's a site with lots of easy-to-read information about the heart:

http://heartinfo.org/hrtnews.html

Unfortunately, the new research info isn't there yet (give it a day or two). I expect the research is so new, nobody has brought out a dietary supplement version of IL-10. I haven't tried searching on the Web; there might be something out there.

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), October 17, 1999.


Very interesting, OG. I do eat fats and think you really have to. Plus protein--or your blood sugar gets out of whack!

-- Mara (MaraWayne@aol.com), October 17, 1999.

from: http://www.researchd.com/cytokines/rtil10ab.htm

ANTI-RAT IL-10 (INTERLEUKIN 10)

DATA SHEET: Mouse anti-Rat Interleukin 10 (Coating Antibody)

Catalog#: RDI-RTIL10abm-C Price: $400.00/vial $375.00/vial 3+

Package Size: 500 micrograms

Supplied: Protein G purified antibody in 50mM Tris buffer, pH 8.0 with 0.1% NaN3 preservative

Clone: A5-7

Ig Isotype: mIgG1

Antigen: E coli derived rec rat IL-10

Reactivity: -Elisa capture antibody appprox 1-4ug/ml, use with biotin labelled cat#RDI-RTIL10abm6-BT (as the detecting antibody) -approx assay range 2,000 to 5pg/ml

Storage: Store at 4 Deg C.

REF: -Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications Vol 192,#2:452-458

Precautions: For In vitro research Use Only. Not for use in or on humans or animals or for diagnostics. Sodium azide may form explosive compounds in presence of heavy metals or under acidic conditions. Flush drains with copious amounts of water to prevent buildup of explosive compounds. It is the responsibility of the user to comply with all local/state and Federal rules in the use of this product. We are not responsible for any patent infringements that might result with the use of or derivation of this product.

see also recombinant rat IL-10 cat#RDI-4019 $200.00/5ug

see also POLY-HRP and TMB-S for assay development --------------------------------------------

Hope this helps (but doubtful).

-- Dean -- from (almost) Duh Moines (dtmiller@midiowa.net), October 17, 1999.



Since it's interleukin, forget about a food additive/herbal "version"

Chuck

-- Chuck, a night driver (rienzoo@en.com), October 19, 1999.


This is all really interesting because 75% of diabetics like me die of heart disease. Even though I have no sign of heart disease, my doctor has put me on one baby aspirin per day as a preventive measure--which of course keeps the blood flowing nicely, as IL-10 apparently does. BTW, I'm also on Lotensin, a BP drug, which has the useful side effect of preventing kidney disease, another diabetic-related problem. I have no BP problems and, apparently, the Lotensin isn't making my BP any lower than it was.

-- Old Git (anon@spamproblems.com), October 19, 1999.

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