Miguel A. Guzman

Atherosclerosis and ω-3 fatty acids in the populations of a fishing village and a farming village in Japan

The effect of different dietary habits on atherosclerosis was investigated by examining the content of ordinary diets and relevant risk factors through a mass health survey on two village populations in Japan. In total, 261 inhabitants in the fishing village and 209 in the farming village were examined for body build, blood pressure, and blood chemistry. Information on smoking habits and food consumption was obtained using a semi-quantitative item-frequency questionnaire. Pulse wave velocity of the aorta, intima-media thickness of the carotid artery, and atherosclerotic plaques as obtained by ultrasonography were used as measures of atherosclerosis. All measures of atherosclerosis are lower in the fishing village than in the farming village in both men and women. There is a striking 5-8-fold difference in the number of atherosclerotic plaques (P < 0.0001) between the populations. The observed differences in atherosclerosis parallels differences in dietary habits and differences in the serum essential fatty acids. Evaluation of the omega-3 fatty acids over the combined populations reveals a negative association with the number of plaques in the common carotid while the omega-6 fatty acids shows a weak positive association with plaques.

Coronary heart disease in young black and white males in New Orleans: Community Pathology Study☆

The biracial population of New Orleans has a high overall mortality rate, high coronary heart disease (CHD) mortality rate, and high autopsy rate. In the New Orleans Community Pathology Study we investigated atherosclerosis and CHD in all deceased males aged 25 to 44 years, with major focus on the 52% of subjects from whom heart and arterial specimens were collected and evaluated according to standardized procedures. Morphologic correlates of CHD are the same in young black and white males. CHD mortality and mortality from cerebral hemorrhage, hypertensive heart disease, chronic renal disease, and diabetes are greater in young black males than young white males. Age, serum cholesterol, and hypertension were identified as important associated factors in the atherosclerotic process, as well as in CHD. The extent of coronary lesions seems to have decreased between 1960-1964 and 1969-1978 in young white males but not in blacks. Racial differences in coronary lesion involvement in non-CHD deaths are smaller than in our earlier studies.

Geographic comparisons of diffuse intimal thickening of the aorta

Aortic intimal thickness was measured microscopically in samples taken from areas grossly free of atherosclerotic lesions of 2,472 subjects aged 15 through 64 years collected during the first year of the International Atherosclerosis Project (IAP). Results indicate that there is progressive increase in aortic intimal thickness with increasing age in both sexes. No differences were observed between the upper thoracic and abdominal aorta. Mean intimal thickness does not appear to be consistently thicker in males than in females. Some differences were found in mean thickness among the 19 location--race groups included; however, such differences did not parallel those observed among the same location--race groups by the mean level of atherosclerosis. A few subjects with Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) and atherosclerosis-related cases had slightly thicker intimas. Diffuse Intimal Thickening (DIT) detected grossly correlates well with thicker means of intimal thickness in both sexes in the abdominal aorta and the thoracic aorta in females. DIT appears to be a universal phenomenon mainly age-dependent; it also appears to be increased in some (CHD) and atherosclerosis-related conditions.

Pregnancy and atherosclerosis

Abstract We have compared the extent of atherosclerotic lesions in women dying while pregnant with those in women dying accidentally. For this study we used arteries from autopsied persons in geographically distinct human populations. These specimens were prepared and evaluated using standardized techniques and formed part of the material collected for the International Atherosclerosis Project. There were no consistent differences in mean extent of fatty streak involvement between pregnancy and accidental cases. In the pooled cases from geographic locations with high and medium levels of atherosclerotic lesion involvement, pregnant women aged 25–34 years had significantly more abdominal aortic fatty streaks than non-pregnant women who died in accidents. No significant differences in aortic fatty streaks were detected in the younger and older pregnant and non-pregnant women nor in those women from location-race groups with low levels of atherosclerosis. Pregnant women in the 35–44 year age group, on the average, had significantly less fatty streaks in the left anterior descending coronary than non-pregnant women. Significant differences in raised atherosclerotic lesions (fibrous plaques, complicated and calcified lesions) were neither expected nor found in either the abdominal aorta or left anterior descending coronary artery. Despite the paucity of significant differences and inconsistent differences, the results suggest that pregnancy may have some relation to the extent of fatty streak involvement in certain age groups, arterial segments, and selected populations.

Relationships between body weight, adiposity and adipose tissue fatty acid composition in humans: Their nutritional and metabolic implications

Abstract We report the relationships between body weight, thickness of panniculus adiposus (a measure of acids in perirenal and buttock adipose tissue in 714 autopsied black and white men, aged 25–44 years, who lived and died in New Orleans. Body weight and thickness of panniculus adiposus are positively related to palmitic acid and negatively related to myristic and stearic acids in one or both adipose tissue sites in the two races. Because both body weight and adiposity are related to caloric balance in an individual, we suggest that adipose tissue fatty acid composition is dependent upon caloric balance in addition to being reported differences in the fatty acid composition of adipose tissue between the black and white men may be explained on the basis of the relationships observed in the study.