Sugar: A risk factor for cardiovascular disease

Cardiovascular disease is one of the most common diseases. Endothelial cells that line the arteries, generally protect, and help the arteries perform, but when they are dysfunctional, they lead to leaky endothelial lining causing atherosclerosis. Inflammation is known to cause endothelial dysfunctio...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Florida scientist 2022-01, Vol.85 (2), p.80-81
Main Authors: Patel, Devam, Patel, Mintoo, Hawker, James
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Arteries
Arteriosclerosis
Atherosclerosis
Cardiovascular disease
Cardiovascular diseases
Cell signaling
Cell surface
Diseases
Endoglin
Endothelial cells
Fructose
Gene expression
Glucose
Inflammation
Intercellular adhesion molecule 1
Policies
Public awareness
Public policy
Receptors
Risk analysis
Risk factors
Saccharides
Sugar
Umbilical cables
Umbilical vein
Veins & arteries
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Summary:Cardiovascular disease is one of the most common diseases. Endothelial cells that line the arteries, generally protect, and help the arteries perform, but when they are dysfunctional, they lead to leaky endothelial lining causing atherosclerosis. Inflammation is known to cause endothelial dysfunction. Sugar, an over abundant and excessively consumed dietary component made up of two molecules glucose and fructose, has been associated with many diseases including cardiovascular disease. This project studied the effect of sugar on endothelial cells. Primary human umbilical vein endothelial cells were treated with glucose and fructose for two days and the RNA expression levels of Intracellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1), an inflammatory marker, and levels of endoglin, a cell surface receptor involved in cell signaling were measured in the cells. The relative normalized expression of ICAM-1 and endoglin were higher in the cells treated with both glucose and fructose as compared to untreated cells. This data suggests that glucose and fructose can cause inflammatory changes in the endothelial lining of the arteries and therefore sugar consumption may play a key role in development of cardiovascular disease. Government policies and public awareness programs are warranted to prevent this common disease through simple lifestyle changes.
ISSN:0098-4590