Free Radicals Implicated
in Obesity Heart Risk

NEW YORK -- People who are overweight may have impaired blood flow that can increase their risk of heart disease. Now, a team of Italian researchers report that an abundance of free radicals -- naturally-occurring compounds that damage cells and lead to disease -- may be partly to blame.

Dr. Francesco Perticone, from the University of Catanzaro Magna Graecia in Catanzaro, Italy, and colleagues tested blood vessel response in 76 healthy people.

The investigators found that obese people, individuals who tended to gain weight around their abdomen, and those who did not respond normally to insulin had impaired blood flow compared with normal-weight people. Insulin is the hormone that regulates blood sugar. People with type 2 diabetes do not respond normally to insulin, which results in high levels of glucose (sugar) in their blood.

When the obese participants were given vitamin C, their blood vessels widened, improving blood flow, according to the report in the January issue of Diabetes, a journal of the American Diabetes Association.

Previous research has found that antioxidant vitamins such as C and E may help arteries dilate and keep blood flowing smoothly. Antioxidants blunt the effects of free radicals.

The new study "reinforces the hypothesis" that damage caused by free radicals may be considered an important mechanism behind blood vessel problems in obesity, Perticone and colleagues explain.

The authors note, however, that there is no evidence that vitamin C actually lowers heart disease risk.

They write that weight loss and exercise may help improve blood flow and lower the risk of heart disease. Further research is needed to determine exactly how obesity and insulin-resistance prevent blood from flowing smoothly through vessels.

Reference Source 89

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