High fat foods can soothe inflammation in the gut
Main Category: GastroIntestinal / GastroenterologyArticle Date: 11 Oct 2005 - 0:00 PDT
| Patient / Public: | ![]() |
5 (3 votes) |
| Health Professional: | ![]() |
3 (1 votes) |
| Article Opinions: | 1 posts |
"Take two cheeseburgers and call me in the morning," may sound like far-fetched medical advice. After all, high fat foods can worsen blockages in blood vessels. But a new study in the October 17 issue of The Journal of Experimental Medicine shows that high fat foods can, at least in the gut, soothe inflammation. This action may stop immune cells from attacking food as a foreign invader.
Eating -- particularly eating fat-rich foods -- causes cells in the small intestine to produce a hormone called cholecystokinin, or CCK. CCK stimulates digestion and gut peristalsis (the motion that propels food along the digestive tract), and also triggers satiation -- the full feeling that prompts you to stop eating.
The study by Luyer and colleagues shows that fat-induced CCK can also dampen inflammation in the gut, as rats fed a high-fat diet were protected against lethal bacteria-induced shock whereas those fed a low-fat diet were not. CCK sent signals to the brain through the vagus nerve, the nerve that provides the electrical regulation for many internal organs, including the gut and the heart. In response to CCK, vagus nerve endings in the gut released a neurotransmitter called acetylcholine. Acetylcholine then bound to proteins on immune cells and turned the cells off.
The authors think this pathway might explain why the immune system doesn't react to food proteins and normal gut bacteria as if they were foreign invaders. They also suggest that triggering this fat-driven chain of events in patients might provide a way to reduce inflammatory complications after surgery.
Nickey Henry
henryn@rockefeller.edu
212-327-8366
Journal of Experimental Medicine
http://www.jem.org
|
Please rate this article: (Hover over the stars then click to rate) |
Patient / Public: |
or |
Health Professional: |
Add to:
Contact Our News Editors
For any corrections of factual information, or to contact the editors please use our feedback form.
![]()
Please send any medical news or health news press releases to:
| Back to top | Back to front page | List of All Medical Articles |
| Privacy Policy | Terms and Conditions | © 2008 MediLexicon International Ltd |





