Defect Boosts Cholesterol More in Men Than Women
A genetic disorder of fat metabolism that leads to elevated cholesterol levels in the blood may affect men more often than women, with fathers most likely to pass a gene for the disorder to their sons, new research confirms.
A Utah medical researcher, reporting results of a massive study at a recent meeting of the California Dietetic Assn. in Los Angeles, said the condition, known as familial hypercholesterolemia, takes particular aim at men but can be controlled.
“We have studied hundreds of people over several years,” said Dr. Roger R. Williams, professor of internal medicine at the University of Utah and chief investigator in the ongoing cholesterol study.
“This is an inherited condition that leads to high cholesterol levels and if these people are males they will have a heart attack by age 45,” he said.
Considered Dangerous Disorder
Familial hypercholesterolemia is considered to be a dangerous metabolic disorder by doctors because victims suffer from increased levels of low density lipoprotein in their blood, the so-called “bad” form of cholesterol.
The fatty deposits can cause pain in the joints where deposits tend to collect, as well as clogging blood vessels, rendering the sufferer susceptible to atherosclerosis.
Because fat collects in joints and the Achilles tendon, Williams said painful recurrent tendinitis and xanthomas--benign fatty tumors--are often detected.
The statistical study by Williams and his team confirms results of earlier laboratory research, which shows that familial hypercholesterolemia carries the risk of two to three times the normal blood cholesterol rate if the victim inherits a gene for the disorder from both parents.
“Although the heart attack rate is higher in men, we found that in women the likelihood of early heart attacks is variable; it’s not as certain,” Williams said.
“We used to tell men with this disorder to write a will because there was no way these guys would ever live to see their 50th birthdays.”
But he notes that early death from heart attack or stroke does not have to be the case if victims of the disease follow a low-fat, high-complex carbohydrate diet and take cholesterol-lowering medications.
Condition Can Be Normalized
“Those of us who are seeing hundreds of these patients in our clinics can normalize them,” Williams said.
In another heart-related study, researchers at the USC School of Medicine suggest a salt-free diet for children prone to hypertension in an attempt to stave off heart attacks and strokes in adulthood.
Unlike Williams’ study which focuses on fatty substances in the blood, the USC biochemical study of rats centers on the role of sodium, according to Joon Rho of the School of Pharmacy who is leading the research project.
“We could screen potential hypertensives on the basis of family history as an indicator of genetic predisposition,” Rho said of high blood pressure, the greatest single cause of heart attacks and strokes in the United States.
“If a child tests positive by exhibiting high blood pressure in response to heavy salt intake, we would prescribe a salt-restricted diet.”
Preliminary results of Rho’s work, which is funded by the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., shows that withholding salt in the diet also prevents the excessive discharge of the brain chemical norepinephrine.
The studies suggest that the neurochemical plays a role in the thickening of blood vessels during a child’s growth and maturation, possibly aiding in the series of maladies that exacerbate cardiovascular disease when hypertension ensues later in life.
