Consuming fatty fish four times a week may help increase the amount of good cholesterol and prevent the risk of heart disease, finds a study.

The findings showed that fatty fish increases the size and lipid composition of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) particles, also known as good cholesterol, in people with impaired glucose metabolism.

Morever, using daily 30 ml of camelina oil -- rich in alpha-linolenic acid, which is an essential omega-3 fatty acid -- was also found to decrease the number of harmful Intermediate-density lipoprotein (IDL) particles.


The IDL lipoprotein is the precursor of (low-density lipoprotein) LDL, which is also known as the bad cholesterol. Previous studies have shown that long-chain omega-3 fatty acids found in fish have a beneficial effect on lipoprotein size and composition.

Both of these changes can reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases, said researchers from the University of Eastern Finland.

For the study, published in the journal Molecular Nutrition & Food Research, the team involved nearly 100 Finnish men and women aged between 40 and 72, with impaired glucose metabolism.

Study participants were randomly divided into four groups for a 12-week intervention: the camelina oil group, the fatty fish group, the lean fish group, and the control group.

While people in the camelina oil group, fatty fish group, showed potentially higher HDL and lower IDL cholesterol level, eating lean fish, was not associated with changes in the number, size or composition of lipoprotein particles, the researchers said.

High cholesterol, which is a known factor for the decrease in heart health may harm more than our cardiovascular systems and lead to bone loss, say researchers including one of Indian-origin.

The new research conducted using animal models suggests that high levels of cholesterol can trigger mitochondrial oxidative stress on cartilage cells -- connective tissue -- causing them to die.

This may ultimately lead to the development of osteoarthritis -- a type of arthritis that occurs when flexible tissue at the ends of bones wears down, said Indira Prasadam, a researcher at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia.

For the study, Prasadam and her team used two different animal models to mimic human hypercholesterolemia.

The first was a mouse model that had an altered gene called Apolipoprotein E that made the animals hypercholesteremic.

The other was a rat model, and the animals were fed a high-cholesterol diet, causing diet-induced hypercholesterolemia.

Both models were fed a high-cholesterol diet or control normal diet, after which they underwent a surgery that mimics knee injuries in people and was designed to bring on osteoarthritis.

Both the mice and the rats that were subjected to surgery and fed with high-cholesterol diets showed more severe osteoarthritis development than seen in the normal diet group.

However, when both the mice and the rats were exposed to the cholesterol-lowering drug atorvastatin and mitochondrion-targeted antioxidants, the development of osteoarthritis was markedly decreased in relation to the untreated groups.

This study tested the potential therapeutic role of mitochondria targeting antioxidants in high-cholesterol-induced osteoarthritis, the researchers said.

"Our team has already begun working alongside dieticians to try to educate the public about healthy eating and how to keep cholesterol levels at a manageable level that won't damage joints," Prasadam said.

The research was published online in The FASEB Journal.

According to a new study, eating one serving a day of beans, peas or lentils can significantly reduce "bad cholesterol" and therefore the risk of cardiovascular disease. Sievenpiper of St Michael's Hospital here said that by eating one serving a day of pulses, people could lower their LDL ('bad') cholesterol by five percent.

"We have a lot of room in our diets for increasing our pulse intake to derive the cardiovascular benefits," Sievenpiper said. He said that this would translate into a five to six percent reduction in the risk of cardiovascular disease.

Pulses have a low glycemic index (foods that break down slowly) and tend to reduce or displace animal protein as well as "bad" fats such as trans fat in a dish or meal. "Pulses already play a role in many traditional cuisines, including Mediterranean and South Asian. As an added bonus, they're inexpensive," he added.

Sievenpiper's meta-analysis reviewed 26 randomised controlled trials that included 1,037 people.
Men had greater reduction in LDL cholesterol compared with women, perhaps because their diets are poorer and cholesterol levels are higher and benefit more markedly from a healthier diet.

Some study participants reported stomach upset such as bloating, gas, diarrhoea or constipation but these symptoms subsided over time. The study was published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

High cholesterol, which is a known factor for the decrease in heart health may harm more than our cardiovascular systems and lead to bone loss, say researchers including one of Indian-origin.

The new research conducted using animal models suggests that high levels of cholesterol can trigger mitochondrial oxidative stress on cartilage cells -- connective tissue -- causing them to die.

This may ultimately lead to the development of osteoarthritis -- a type of arthritis that occurs when flexible tissue at the ends of bones wears down, said Indira Prasadam, a researcher at Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia.

For the study, Prasadam and her team used two different animal models to mimic human hypercholesterolemia.

The first was a mouse model that had an altered gene called Apolipoprotein E that made the animals hypercholesteremic.

The other was a rat model, and the animals were fed a high-cholesterol diet, causing diet-induced hypercholesterolemia.

Both models were fed a high-cholesterol diet or control normal diet, after which they underwent a surgery that mimics knee injuries in people and was designed to bring on osteoarthritis.


Both the mice and the rats that were subjected to surgery and fed with high-cholesterol diets showed more severe osteoarthritis development than seen in the normal diet group.

However, when both the mice and the rats were exposed to the cholesterol-lowering drug atorvastatin and mitochondrion-targeted antioxidants, the development of osteoarthritis was markedly decreased in relation to the untreated groups.

This study tested the potential therapeutic role of mitochondria targeting antioxidants in high-cholesterol-induced osteoarthritis, the researchers said.

"Our team has already begun working alongside dieticians to try to educate the public about healthy eating and how to keep cholesterol levels at a manageable level that won't damage joints," Prasadam said.

The gene — known as MeXis — was previously believed to sit under the umbrella of "selfish" genes, or those thought to be functionless because they fail to produce proteins.
But the new study shows that MeXis does not need to produce proteins to be useful. Instead, it makes molecules known as long-coding RNAs (IncRNAs).
These IncRNAs regulate the expression of a protein that removes cholesterol from the arteries.
High cholesterol is a major risk factor for heart disease.
In the new study, Dr. Sallam and colleagues discovered how the MeXis gene helps to remove excess cholesterol from the arteries, potentially opening the door to a new strategy for heart disease prevention.
With their new study — which was conducted using mice — the researchers sought to learn more about the molecular events that play a role in atherosclerosis.
They identified MeXis as a key player; plaque accumulation in the blood vessels of rodents without the gene was almost double that of mice with normal levels of MeXis.
Upon further investigation, the team found that MeXis activates the expression of a protein called Abca1 through the production of IncRNAs. The role of Abca1 is to remove excess cholesterol from the blood vessels.
What is more, the findings may open the door to other genes that play a role in heart health.
In future research, the team plans to find out more about the mechanisms of MeXis, how its activity can be modified, and whether it could hold up as a target for heart disease prevention.
"The idea that lncRNAs are directly involved in very common ailments such as plaque buildup within arteries offers new ways of thinking about how to treat and diagnose heart disease." Dr. Tamer Sallam
"There is likely a good reason why genes that make RNAs rather than proteins exist," Dr. Sallam continues. "A key question for us moving forward is how they may be involved in health and disease."