Alcohol Endangers the Heart

How much alcohol is safe to drink? It sounds like a simple question, but it is hard to figure out from health authorities because there is such a wide discrepancy in advice between different countries.

It can get even more confusing because they don’t agree on how much alcohol is in a standard drink. For example, in Austria, a standard drink is a whopping 20 grams of alcohol, compared to just 8 grams in Iceland. In the United States, a standard drink is considered 14 grams of alcohol, which is around the amount contained in a 1.5-ounce shot of distilled spirits, a 12-ounce beer, or a 5-ounce glass of wine. Of course, you also have to pay attention to the specifics of your drink, because your favorite double IPA may have twice the alcohol content of a regular beer.

And even if you figure it out completely, the recommendations from your health authorities may be too high according to new research. In the study, scientists found that to minimize your risk to the heart, you should limit your consumption to less than 5 cans of 4.5% beer or less than one bottle of wine per week.

Levels of alcohol consumption currently considered safe by some countries are associated with the development of heart failure, according to new research presented at Heart Failure 2022, a scientific congress of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).

“This study adds to the body of evidence that a more cautious approach to alcohol consumption is needed,” said study author Dr. Bethany Wong of St. Vincent’s University Hospital, Dublin, Ireland. “To minimize the risk of alcohol causing harm to the heart, if you don’t drink, don’t start. If you do drink, limit your weekly consumption to less than one bottle of wine or less than three-and-a-half 500 ml cans of 4.5% beer.”  READ MORE...

New Heart Cell Discovered

A new type of cell has been identified in the heart that is linked to regulating heart rate – and the discovery promises to advance our understanding of cardiovascular defects and diseases, once these cells have been more extensively studied.

The new cell is a type of glial cell – cells that support nerve cells – like astrocytes in the central nervous system (the brain and spinal cord). Named nexus glia, they're located in the outflow tract of the heart, the place where many congenital heart defects are found.

The new cell type was first found in zebrafish, before being confirmed in mouse and human hearts too. Experiments on zebrafish found that when the cells were removed, heart rate increased; and when genetic editing blocked glial development, the heartbeat became irregular.

"We don't completely know the function of these cells, but the concept that if you get rid of them, heart rates increase, could link it to certain disease cases," says biologist Cody Smith from the University of Notre Dame in Indiana.

"I think these glial cells could play a pretty important role in regulating the heart. This is another example of how studying basic neurobiology can lead to the understanding of many different disorders."

Finding the nexus glia cells took plenty of detective work. It was previously thought that star-shaped glia (astroglia) such as astrocytes could only be found in the brain and spinal cord, although "glial-like processes" had already been spotted in the heart.  READ MORE...

Reversing Heart Attacks and Strokes

Cysteamine reduced existing atherosclerosis in low‐density lipoprotein receptor–deficient mice. A, Representative images to show atherosclerotic lesions in the aorta of baseline, control, and mice treated with cysteamine (2.2 mmol/L in drinking water) stained with Oil Red O. Bar=500 μm. 

Data points show lesion areas in individual mice in each group in the aortic arch (B) and the rest of the thoracic plus abdominal aorta (C) of baseline, control, and cysteamine‐treated mice. Representative images to show atherosclerotic lesions in the aortic root (D) and lesion areas in individual mice (E). 

There were 17 to 20 mice in each group, and the horizontal line shows the group mean±SEM. Data were analyzed by ANOVA, followed by the Tukey post hoc test. *P<0.05, **P<0.01, ***P<0.001. Credit: DOI: 10.1161/JAHA.120.017524

An antioxidant drug reverses atherosclerosis and could be used to prevent heart attacks and strokes due to clots, according to research funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF) and published today in JAHA: Journal of the American Heart Association.

Atherosclerosis is the build-up of fatty deposits in the arteries. When a type of fat called LDL cholesterol becomes oxidized and builds up to form plaques in the artery walls, inflammation and damage increase which can cause the plaques to rupture and cause blood to clot.

These clots can block vital arteries that allow blood to flow to the heart, causing a heart attack, or to the brain causing a stroke.

Previously, researchers at the University of Reading discovered that LDL cholesterol can be oxidized in acidic small 'bags' called lysosomes in immune cells within the artery wall.

Now, Professor David Leake and his team have found that the antioxidant drug, cysteamine, has the power to switch off, and even reverse, this damaging process.

Cysteamine works by accumulating in the lysosomes and stops the oxidation of LDL cholesterol. It is already known to be safe in humans where it's used to treat a rare lysosomal disease called cystinosis.  READ MORE