(Press-News.org) In this week's PLoS Medicine, Kay-Tee Khaw of the University of Cambridge, UK and colleagues analyze data from a prospective cohort study and show associations between plasma concentrations of saturated phospholipid fatty acids and risk of coronary heart disease, and an inverse association between omega-6 polyunsaturated phospholipid fatty acids and risk of coronary heart disease.
The authors comment: "Early guidelines to prevent [coronary heart disease] recommended reductions in saturated fat but little consistency as to what might be substituted: other fats, protein, or carbohydrate. Our results add to the accumulating evidence that substitution of saturated fat by n-6 polyunsaturated fat may have more [coronary heart disease] benefits."
###
Funding: This study was supported by grants from the Medical Research Council UK and Cancer Research UK. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of this manuscript.
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Citation: Khaw K-T, Friesen MD, Riboli E, Luben R, Wareham N (2012) Plasma Phospholipid Fatty Acid Concentration and Incident Coronary Heart Disease in Men and Women: The EPIC-Norfolk Prospective Study. PLoS Med 9(7): e1001255. doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1001255
IN YOUR COVERAGE PLEASE USE THIS URL TO PROVIDE ACCESS TO THE FREELY AVAILABLE PAPER (THIS LINK WILL BECOME LIVE WHEN THE EMBARGO LIFTS):
http://www.plosmedicine.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pmed.1001255
PRESS-ONLY PREVIEW OF THE ARTICLE:
http://www.plos.org/media/press/2012/plme-09-07-khaw.pdf
Revisiting the association between saturated fat intake and coronary heart disease
2012-07-04
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Cutting calories might help you live longer, but not without increased physical activity
2012-07-04
Dietary restriction can slow age-related diseases and extend the lifespan of all species tested to date. Understanding this phenomenon might help people live longer, preferably without having to drastically limit calories. Now, investigators reporting in the July 3 issue of the Cell Press journal Cell Metabolism have found that in flies, dietary restriction causes enhanced fat metabolism in the muscle and increased physical activity, both of which are critical for extending lifespan. The findings suggest that dietary restriction may cause changes in muscle that can lead ...
5 or more cups of coffee a day reduce the chance of IVF success by around 50 percent
2012-07-04
Istanbul, 3 July 2012: Women who drink five or more cups of coffee a day severely reduce their chance of success from IVF treatment. Indeed, Danish investigators who followed up almost 4000 IVF and ICSI patients described the adverse impact as "comparable to the detrimental effect of smoking".
The study was presented today at the annual meeting of ESHRE by Dr Ulrik Schiøler Kesmodel from the Fertility Clinic of Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark. Results showed that the consumption of five or more cups of coffee a day reduced the clinical pregnancy rate by 50% and ...
Why smoking is 'BAD' for the Fallopian tube -- and increases the risk of ectopic pregnancy
2012-07-04
Istanbul, 3 July 2012: Cigarette smoke reduces the production of a Fallopian tube gene known as "BAD", which helps explain the link between smoking and ectopic pregnancy. The finding, from scientists led by Drs Andrew Horne and Colin Duncan at the Medical Research Council (MRC) Centre for Reproductive Health in Edinburgh, UK, was described today at the annual meting of ESHRE (European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology) in Istanbul.
Ectopic pregnancy - when the embryo implants outside the uterus and in the Fallopian tube - occurs in up to 2% of all pregnancies ...
A high intake of certain dietary fats associated with lower live birth rates in IVF
2012-07-04
Istanbul, 3 July 2012: Women with a higher intake of dietary saturated fats have fewer mature oocytes available for collection in IVF, according to results of a study from the Harvard School of Public Health funded by the US National Institutes of Health. The study investigated the effect of dietary fat (classified as total, saturated, monounsaturated, polyunsaturated, omega 6, omega 3 and trans) on a range of preclinical and clinical outcomes in women having IVF. Results showed that the intake of saturated fat was inversely related to the number of mature oocytes retrieved, ...
Counting carbon: Pre-industrial emissions make a difference
2012-07-04
Washington, D.C.— When evaluating the historic contributions made by different countries to the greenhouse gasses found in Earth's atmosphere, calculations generally go back no further than the year 1840. New research from Carnegie's Julia Pongratz and Ken Caldeira shows that carbon dioxide contributions from the pre-industrial era still have an impact on our climate today. Their work is published in Environmental Research Letters.
The burning of fossil fuels that came with industrialization released massive amounts of carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere, which ...
Researchers closer to understanding how proteins regulate immune system
2012-07-04
Researchers in the biological sciences department in the Faculty of Science at the University of Calgary have revealed how white blood cells move to infection or inflammation in the body; findings which could help lead to developing drug therapies for immune system disorders. The research is published this month in the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
It's long been known that two human proteins—L-selectin and calmodulin—are involved in moving white blood cells to the site of inflammation or infection in the body. L-selectin is embedded in the cellular membrane of the ...
Pre-industrial emissions still causing temperatures to rise
2012-07-04
A climate model accounting for the carbon dioxide (CO2) released into our atmosphere before the industrial revolution has been used to show the detrimental effect of carbon emissions on global temperature in the long-term.
In a study published today, 4 July, in IOP Publishing's journal Environmental Research Letters, researchers from the Carnegie Institution for Science have shown that pre-industrial emissions from land use changes are responsible for about nine per cent of the increase in today's global mean temperature since that era.
"The relatively small amounts ...
Amniotic fluid yields alternatives to embryonic stem cells
2012-07-04
Stem cells found in amniotic fluid can be transformed into a more versatile state similar to embryonic stem cells, according to a study published today in the journal Molecular Therapy. Scientists from Imperial College London and the UCL Institute of Child Health succeeded in reprogramming amniotic fluid cells without having to introduce extra genes. The findings raise the possibility that stem cells derived from donated amniotic fluid could be stored in banks and used for therapies and in research, providing a viable alternative to the limited embryonic stem cells currently ...
Polio vaccination programs not reaching enough children in Afghanistan and Pakistan
2012-07-04
New, more effective vaccines are struggling to have an impact in the drive to eradicate polio in Afghanistan and Pakistan because not enough children are being vaccinated, according to a study published in the Lancet medical journal today. Sharp declines in vaccine uptake led to a rise in the number of new infections between 2006 and 2011, even though new vaccines introduced during this time have proven to be more effective against the main circulating strain of the virus.
Poliovirus exists in three strains, with type 1 the most prevalent and type 2 unseen anywhere in ...
Social bats pay a price with new fungal disease
2012-07-04
SANTA CRUZ, CA--The impact on bat populations of a deadly fungal disease known as white-nose syndrome may depend on how gregarious the bats are during hibernation. Species that hibernate in dense clusters even as their populations get smaller will continue to transmit the disease at a high rate, dooming them to continued decline, according to a new study led by researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz. One gregarious species has surprised researchers, however, by changing its social behavior.
White-nose syndrome has decimated bat colonies throughout the ...