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Study: High-fat food damages arteries
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Using the brachial artery tourniquet test (BART), researchers are able to prove the devastating effect that even one high-fat meal has on the arteries.
The test follows this procedure: Researchers use ultrasound to measure the diameter of the brachial artery of the subject to be tested. A blood pressure cuff placed around the upper arm is inflated and kept inflated for 5 minutes. After deflating the cuff, ultrasound is again used to see how fast the artery springs back to its normal condition.
In 1999, Dr. Robert A. Vogel, of the University of Maryland School of Medicne in Baltimore, used students to prove his point: that eating even one fatty meal could damage the artery walls. After a preliminary measurements of how long it would take for the artery walls to spring back to their normal condition, Vogel fed one group a fast-food breakfast that contained 900 calories and 50 grams of fat. A second group ate 900-calorie breakfasts containing no fat at all. After they ate, Dr. Vogel measured the responsiveness of their arteries once again. The results are dramatic. The arteries of the no-fat breakfast group bounced back to normal just as they had when measured before the meal. But, the arteries of the high-fat breakfast group took far longer to respond.
If a single high-fat meal can have such a devastating impact on the health of your arteries, imagine what damage your blood vessels suffer by eating a high-fat meal every day?
Reference:
Vogel RA. Brachial artery ultrasound: a noninvasive tool in the assessment of triglyceride-rich lipoproteins. Clin Cardiol. 1999;22(6 suppl):II34–II39.
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