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Heart fat link to cardiac disease

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A study has found more evidence supporting the role of fat around the heart in promoting atherosclerosis.

New results from the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA) has showed that pericardial fat is more strongly related to coronary artery plaque than either body mass index (BMI) or waist circumference.

When plaque forms in the arteries, it deposits in an irregular manner, causing thickening of the artery wall on one side, but not the other. The ratio of the thick side to the thin side is referred to as plaque eccentricity and is a strong indicator of heart disease.

While previous studies have looked at the relationship of pericardial fat to atherosclerosis in patients with severe coronary disease, this is the first study to determine the association of pericardial fat on coronary artery plaque burden in asymptomatic individuals.

“The individuals in this study had no symptoms and were otherwise healthy,” said senior author David A. Bluemke, M.D., Ph.D., director of Radiology and Imaging Sciences at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Clinical Care.

The heart

The heart

“They did not have significant coronary artery narrowing. Yet, despite this, they had coronary plaque that could be detected by MRI,” added Bluemke.

For the study, 183 individuals without clinical cardiovascular disease were recruited from the Baltimore and Chicago field centers of MESA, a study funded by the NIH.

“Pericardial fat is located behind the sternum, around the heart, and we cannot see it except with CT or MRI,” said Bluemke.

“In some people, extra fat forms preferentially in this area. We do not know why. However, extra fat around the heart is generally associated with being overweight or obese,” added Bluemke.


The results showed that pericardial fat volume correlated significantly with the degree of plaque eccentricity in both men and women. After adjustment for BMI, waist circumference, traditional risk factors, C-reactive protein level and coronary calcium content, the relationship between pericardial fat and plaque eccentricity remained significant in men, but not in women.

“The findings indicate yet another reason that obesity is bad for us,” said Bluemke.

“It is particularly bad when the fat forms around the heart, since the heart fat appears to further promote coronary artery plaque,” added Bluemke.

The study has been published online in the journal Radiology.

Memory loss may be reversed

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The frustration of losing your car keys or not remembering where you put your glasses could soon be nothing more than a distant… erm, memory.

Scientists have worked out why we forget where we’ve put things – and shown that an inexpensive pill used for years to treat high blood pressure in the U.S. can boost memory.

In future, everyone could take guanfacine or a similar drug from middle age to keep ‘senior moments’ at bay.

This would make remembering PIN numbers and phone numbers a breeze and mean you need never hunt frantically for your car keys again. On a more serious note, keeping memory sharp would make it easier for people to continue in demanding careers and maintain their independence as they age.

The researchers, from Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, made the discovery by giving monkeys a memory test akin to the human problem of finding car keys. The primates had a computer game in which they had to find a hidden treat.

Alzheimer's disease

Alzheimer's disease

Young animals could hold the treat’s location in mind for up to five seconds. But aged animals remembered the information for only half that time. Working memory – or retaining information such as car key locations or phone numbers – relies on connections between clumps of brain cells in an area called the pre-frontal cortex.

The connections allow the cells to ‘talk’ to each other, enabling one to fire up another and keeping memories strong.

In the ageing monkeys, the connections were weaker and the brain cells fired less often.

But giving them guanfacine significantly speeded up the process, making it more akin to that in young animals.


Writing in the journal Nature, the researchers said that certain chemicals build up in the ageing brain and penetrate the cells, depleting memory. Guanfacine stops them from building up.

Experts at Yale have already started testing guanfacine on healthy men and women to see if it stops memory lapses.

Professor Amy Arnsten, who spearheaded the monkey study and receives royalties on another version of the drug, said that in future people could take guanfacine, or a similar drug, from middle age to keep their memory sharp in later years.

Such a treatment would be aimed at absent-mindedness and is unlikely to help halt the march of Alzheimer’s disease.

But keeping the brain healthy may help stave off the development of the disease.