Lower Your Cholesterol Naturally

It’s becoming apparent that brushing your teeth may protect you from more than just cavities – it can also cut your risk of a heart disease, a new study reports. In London an international team has found that the body’s own defenses could overreact to the threat of gum disease and destroy its own protective cells, which leads to the buildup in the arteries called atherosclerosis the prime cause of heart attacks.

In recent years chronic infections have been associated with the buildup of plaque in the arteries. Gum disease is one of the most common infections in humans and there are now over 50 studies linking gum disease with heart disease and stroke.

Professor Greg Seymour from New Zealand points out that a number of theories have been put forward to explain the link between oral infection and heart disease. One of these is that certain proteins from bacteria initiate atherosclerosis and help it progress. His group looked at the role of ‘heat shock proteins’.

Heat shock proteins are produced by bacteria as well as animals and plants. They are produced after cells are exposed to different kinds of stress conditions, such as inflammation, toxins, starvation and oxygen and water deprivation. Because of this, heat shock proteins are also referred to as stress proteins. They can work as chaperone molecules, stabilizing other proteins, helping to fold them and transport them across cell membranes. Some also bind to foreign antigens and present them to immune cells.

Because heat shock proteins are produced by humans as well as bacteria, the immune system may not be able to differentiate between those from the body and those from invading pathogens and here lies the rub. This can lead the immune system to launch an attack on its own proteins. “When this happens, white blood cells can build up in the tissues of the arteries, causing atherosclerosis,” Professor Seymour reports.

He found white blood cells called T cells in the lesions of arteries in patients affected by atherosclerosis. These T cells were able to bind to host heat shock proteins as well as those from bacteria that cause gum disease. This suggests that the similarity between the proteins could be the link between oral infection and atherosclerosis.

Our knowledge of heart disease continues to increase. This represents another major step forward.