Fatty foods help the heart? (HealthDay) Updated: 2005-10-11 09:52 Even though eating hamburgers and French fries
won't do the heart any favors, these kinds of fatty foods could help soothe
inflammation over the short term, researchers report.
Eating stimulates cells in the small intestine to produce a hormone called
cholecystokinin (CCK), which aids digestion and gut peristalsis, the motion that
moves food through the digestive tract. CCK also triggers satiation -- the
feeling of fullness that tells you to stop eating, according to Misha D. Luyer
of the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands and colleagues.
This study in rats, published in the Oct. 17 issue of the Journal of
Experimental Medicine, found that fat-induced CCK dampens gut inflammation and
prevents immune cells from attacking food as a foreign invader.
Rats fed a high-fat diet were protected against lethal bacteria-induced
shock, but rats fed a low-fat diet didn't have the same protection.
In the rats that ate a high-fat diet, CCK sent out signals that prompted the
release of a neurotransmitter called acetylcholine, which bound to proteins on
immune cells and switched them off, the researchers found.
This may explain why the immune systems of the rats on the high-fat diet
didn't react to food proteins and normal gut bacteria as if they were foreign
invaders, the study authors said. They also suggested that triggering this
fat-induced action in patients may help reduce inflammation-related
complications following surgery.
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