Dietary Cholesterol and Phytosterols Directly Linked to Heart Disease Risk, New Study Reveals
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University of Iceland
The University of Iceland is one of the leading universities in the Nordic region and a world-renowned research university. Located adjacent to the coast with a beautiful environment and advantageous geographical location, it is Iceland’s premier institution of higher learning. The University of Iceland enjoys an outstanding reputation in the fields of science and technology as well as humanities and arts. It ranks among the world’s leaders in research areas such as energy (geothermal technology), physics, chemistry, geological sciences, genetic medicine, computer applications, software development, and Icelandic literature (including the Sagas and the Eddas; an alumnus was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1955).The University of Iceland comprises five main faculties: the Faculty of Education; the Faculty of Social Sciences; the Faculty of Humanities (including departments of Literature, Theology, Social Sciences, and Law); the Faculty of Health Sciences (including departments of Medicine, Dentistry, Nursing, Pharmacy, and the National Hospital); and the Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences (covering divisions of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Industrial Engineering and Mechanical Engineering, Life and Environmental Sciences, Earth Sciences, the Center for Systems Biology, and more). In total, the university offers hundreds of programs across more than 30 disciplines. Additionally, the University of Iceland hosts over 40 research institutes and centers spanning various disciplines. The National Hospital, the National Library, and the National Museum are also under the administration of the University of Iceland.The Science Institute is one of the largest institutes at the University of Iceland. It comprises seven research departments—Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Applied Mathematics and Computer Science, Earth Sciences, and Geophysics—as well as more than 30 research groups (laboratories). The institute employs over 100 staff members, including 49 professors and associate professors, and 57 other mid-to-senior-level researchers. Most programs at the University of Iceland offer master’s and doctoral degree courses.
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REYKJAVIK, Iceland, Aug. 7, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- A subsidiary of AmgenGeneDecode, Inc.(deCODE genetics)scientists, as well as those fromIcelandic Healthcare System、University of Iceland、Copenhagen University Biobank、Danish Blood Donor Study(Danish Blood Donor Study)collaborators, recently in《European Heart Journal》(European Heart Journal)A research paper published above indicates that new findings point to the adverse effects of dietary cholesterol and phytosterols.
Video—https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jS4VscvgMsM
It is now widely accepted that “bad” cholesterol (also known as non-high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol) can directly influence the development of cardiovascular disease. Individuals with elevated levels of bad cholesterol in their blood, or those at increased risk of heart disease due to other factors, are generally advised to lower their cholesterol levels through lifestyle modifications; in some cases, they may also need to take cholesterol-lowering medications such as statins.
Blood cholesterol levels are also influenced by genetics and environmental factors, particularly diet; cholesterol levels in the blood rise with the intake of saturated fats, which are primarily found in red meat and high-fat dairy products. However, for decades, there has been considerable controversy regarding the importance of dietary cholesterol in regulating blood cholesterol levels and cardiovascular disease risk. Most foods rich in cholesterol are also high in saturated fat, although there are exceptions, such as eggs and shellfish.
Phytosterols are small amounts of cholesterol-like molecules found in all plant-based foods, including fruits, vegetables, nuts, and legumes. Foods enriched with significant amounts of phytosterols—primarily margarine and dairy products—are often recommended as part of a heart-healthy diet, as they have the potential to reduce the absorption of dietary cholesterol.
The transporters NPC1L1 and ABCG5/8 regulate the absorption of dietary cholesterol and phytosterols. NPC1L1 transports sterols from the intestinal lumen into enterocytes, where ABCG5/8 effluxes less than half of the cholesterol back into the lumen, while returning the majority of phytosterols. Consequently, approximately 50% to 60% of intestinal cholesterol is absorbed, whereas the absorption rate of dietary phytosterols is only about 5%.
The authors of the research paper investigated the impact of sequence variants that modulate the function of the ABCG5/8 transporter in controlling blood cholesterol and phytosterol levels, as well as coronary artery disease risk in large sample sets from the Icelandic, Danish, and UK Biobanks. The effects of these sequence variants were assessed in up to 147,000 patients with coronary artery disease and 922,000 individuals without coronary artery disease.
Studies have shown that individuals with sequence variants that reduce the function of ABCG5/8 transporters exhibit elevated levels of cholesterol and plant sterols in the blood, as well as an increased risk of heart disease. These findings confirm that dietary cholesterol can influence blood cholesterol levels and the risk of heart attack. The results also indicate that cholesterol absorption varies among individuals when cholesterol is consumed.
This study also demonstrates that ABCG5/8 variants—which affect cholesterol and phytosterol levels—have a greater impact on heart disease risk than other cholesterol-related variants that do not influence phytosterol levels. These findings support the view that phytosterols may be directly involved in atherogenesis, thereby raising concerns about the safety of using phytosterols as dietary supplements.
In an accompanying editorial, Oliver Weingärtner stated, “The study by Helgadottir et al. is not only the best study to date supporting the hypothesis thatABCG5/ABCG8"The variation at this locus is directly associated with atherosclerotic heart disease, providing a strong impetus for investigating the role of non-cholesterol steroids in this process."
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