Research Breakthroughs in Medicine and Nutrition
Alimentary innovations in treating heart disease
Not only does the gut microbiome impact on stress and sleep but it has a profound effect on cardiac health, shows another study, also from the university’s APC.
Researchers found that a beneficial microbe (probiotic) combined with a corn-derived soluble fibre (prebiotic) had potent cardiovascular health benefits. Using a human scale model, they demonstrated that an imbalance in the gut microbiome and gut inflammation can contribute to heart damage. However, they were excited to find that the combination of the probiotic and prebiotic (together called a synbiotic) could reduce the very heart muscle damage caused by a poor diet.
The research, co-funded by food ingredients manufacturer Tate & Lyle, could have profound implications for how we treat heart disease, explained Prof. Noel Caplice, an APC Principal Investigator, Chair of Cardiovascular Sciences at UCC, and Consultant Cardiologist at Cork University Hospital: " It’s very exciting to see for first time that a bacteria residing only in the gut can treat heart disease associated with obesity and high blood pressure, and our synbiotic treatment equals some of the best available cardiac drugs. This could be life-changing for patients with obesity, high blood pressure and diet-related heart disease."
The paper, published in JACC: Basic to Translational Science, can be read here: Targeting the Gut-Heart Axis Improves Cardiac Remodelling in a Clinical Scale Model of Cardiometabolic Syndrome