Plant Sterols May Pose Health risk

[alisbabe]

Plant Sterols May Pose Health risk

They might be known for lowering bad cholesterol and reducing heart disease risk, but plant sterols have their own health risks, say researchers.

The researchers found that these compounds may accumulate in heart valves and lead to stenosis, abnormal narrowing in blood vessels.

Aortic valve stenosis (AS) is caused due to accumulation of cholesterol in the valve between the left ventricle and aorta, which impedes the flow of blood and puts extra pressure on the heart.

Nearly, 2 pct of individuals over 65 and over 5pct of those over 85 have AS, and as the population ages, it is becoming an increasing problem.

Plant sterols can block the absorption of dietary cholesterol into the body, and as such high vegetable diets and/or plant sterol supplements are often used to alleviate high cholesterol.

The team led by Satu Helske collected blood samples from 82 patients with severe AS and aortic valves from 21 individuals undergoing valve surgery.

They found that non-cholesterol sterols, including plant sterols, can accumulate in aortic valves, and at levels that directly related to their blood concentration.

These findings suggest that beneficial plant sterols may end up becoming a risk factor for AS.

The study appears in the July JLR.

http://living.oneindia.in/health/disorders-and-ailments/2008/plant-sterols-heart-disease-180708.html

[Dodger]

Better living through chemistry!

[ruthla]

Imagine that. They jump on the "cholesterol is bad" bandwagon, give people sterols without knowing how or why it "works" to lower this "cholesterol problem" and find it causes even more disease.

Hmm. Maybe cholesterol is part of the healing process, and the plant sterols interfered with that healing process rather than getting rid of cholesterol by fixing the underlying problem? Is this kind of like turning off the smoke detector instead of putting out the fire?

[LessLiz]

Most of the "they" don't prescribe supplements. Until they start talking about how much plant sterols are or are not found in the bloodstream of healthy people, and sampled from valves of cadavers of people without AS we won't know what this means.

[Nancy LC]

They're putting them in "heart healthy" margarine and aspirin marketed towards heart attack prevention.
http://wonderdrug.com/images/pic_ar_bha.jpg
Margarine (http://www.benecol.com/products/index.jhtml?id=benecol/products/pr_spreads.inc)

[renegadiab]

Plant sterols may reduce cholesterol, but do they reduce the risk of heart attack??? The fixation on cholesterol leads people to think that reducing cholesterol will reduce heart attack risk, but that isn't the case. I'd be willing to bet that they would find that plant sterols don't lower the risk of heart attack and, as we say, only make things worse.

Pass the butter!!!!

[lowcarbUgh]

The subjects of that study already had severe aortic valve disease:

The pathogenesis of aortic valve stenosis (AS) is characterized by the accumulation of LDL-derived cholesterol in the diseased valves. Since LDL particles also contain plant sterols, we investigated whether plant sterols accumulate in aortic valve lesions. Serum samples were collected from 82 patients with severe AS and from 12 control subjects. Aortic valves were obtained from a subpopulation of 21 AS patients undergoing valve surgery and from 10 controls. Serum and valvular total cholesterol and noncholesterol sterols were measured by gas-liquid chromatography. Noncholesterol sterols, including both cholesterol precursors and sterols reflecting cholesterol absorption, were detected in serum samples and aortic valves. The higher the ratios to cholesterol of the cholesterol precursors and absorption markers in serum, the higher their ratios in the stenotic aortic valves (r = 0.74, P < 0.001 for lathosterol and r = 0.88, P < 0.001 for campesterol). The valvular ratio to cholesterol of lathosterol correlated negatively with the aortic valve area (r = –0.47, P = 0.045), suggesting attenuation of cholesterol synthesis with increasing severity of AS. The higher the absorption of cholesterol, the higher the plant sterol contents in stenotic aortic valves. These findings suggest that local accumulation of plant sterols and cholesterol precursors may participate in the pathobiology of aortic valve disease.

http://www.jlr.org/cgi/content/abstract/49/7/1511

There is some evidence that PSE-supllmented margarine may produce this effect:

Patients eating PSE-supplemented margarine (n = 10) showed increased plasma concentrations and 5-fold higher sterol concentrations in aortic valve tissue. CONCLUSIONS: Food supplementation with PSE impairs endothelial function, aggravates ischemic brain injury, effects atherogenesis in mice, and leads to increased tissue sterol concentrations in humans. Therefore, prospective studies are warranted that evaluate not only effects on cholesterol reduction, but also on clinical endpoints.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18420097?dopt=Abstract

[CindySue48]

Aortic valve stenosis (AS) is caused due to accumulation of cholesterol in the valve between the left ventricle and aorta, which impedes the flow of blood and puts extra pressure on the heart.
It's not cholesterol that accumulates, it's calcium and/or bacteria!

Mayo Clinic link:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/aortic-valve-stenosis/DS00418/DSECTION=causes

When I first read that I sat up and said HUH? I have never heard of cholesterol being the culprit!

The biggest problem is damage to the valve, which can be a congenital defect (my son has it) or damage to the valve from disease (rheumatic fever) or damage from drugs or radiation. Once the valve is damaged it can get worse from a build up of bacteria and/or calcium. This is the reason why people with AS and MVP (mitral valve prolapse) are given antibiotics before dental work.

[kallyn]

This is the reason why people with AS and MVP (mitral valve prolapse) are given antibiotics before dental work.

Actually they changed those recommendations (at least for people with MVP, not sure about AS). http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4717

Not that it changes the info in the rest of your post, just thought you might want to check it out to see if it's still indicated for the heart defect that your son has.