Could honey prevent heart attacks? Natural sugar found in the popular sweetener reduces artery plaque by 30%

By ALEXANDRA THOMPSON

A natural sugar found in honey could prevent heart attacks, new research suggests.

The sugar, known as trehalose, activates a protein that causes immune cells to remove fatty plaque from arteries, the study found.

Trehalose was found to reduce the size of plaque in mice by around 30 percent.

Plaque builds up inside the arteries in a condition known as atherosclerosis. This causes the arteries to harden and become less elastic, putting people at risk of high blood pressure, heart disease and even heart attacks.

Trehalose is also found in mushrooms, lobsters and prawns.

A natural sugar found in honey could prevent heart attacks by removing plaque

How the study was carried out

Researchers from Washington University injected mice at risk of atherosclerosis with trehalose or a different type of sugar.

Some mice were also given trehalose orally.

Key findings

Results, published in Nature Communications, revealed that mice given trehalose had plaques measuring 0.25mm across, compared with 0.35mm in the animals not injected with the sugar.

This is an approximate 30 percent decrease in plaque.

Plaque size was not reduced in mice given trehalose orally or those injected with a different type of sugar.

Trehalose is thought to activate a protein called TFEB that causes immune cells, known as macrophages, to remove plaque.

Lead author Dr Babak Razani said: ‘In atherosclerosis, macrophages try to fix damage to the artery by cleaning up the area, but they get overwhelmed by the inflammatory nature of the plaques.

‘Their housekeeping process gets gummed up.

‘Trehalose is not just enhancing the housekeeping machinery that’s already there. It’s triggering the cell to make new machinery.’

ASPIRIN FAILS TO REDUCE THE RISK OF A FIRST HEART ATTACK BUT CAN HELP PAST SUFFERERS

Aspirin fails to reduce the risk of a first heart attack or stroke but can help those who have previously suffered a cardiac illness, new research reveals.

The painkiller significantly reduces the risk of having another heart attack or stroke if you have suffered one in the past, the study found.

Yet, people still have a 10.7 percent risk of having a cardiac-related event if they take aspirin and have never had an incident before, the research adds.

The risk is similar at 10.5 percent among non-aspirin takers.

Researchers believe it is important to identify patients who will not benefit from aspirin due to its potential side effects, such as bleeding in the gut and brain.

Study author Dr Anthony Bavry from the University of Florida, said: ‘There are many individuals who may not be deriving a benefit from aspirin.

‘If we can identify those patients and spare them from aspirin, we’re doing a good thing.’

Source: Mail Online