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New study suggests special cocoa may lead to sustained improvement in blood vessel function

A new study published in the Journal of Cardiovascular Pharmacology found that regular consumption of a special Mars, Inc., cocoa containing cocoa flavanols may have a sustained benefit on blood vessel health. This is the first study to suggest the cardiovascular benefits of flavanol-rich cocoa could be long-term.

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1. Advance in understanding of blood pressure gene could lead to new treatments
   02-04-2007 · EurekAlert!
   Research by scientists at UCL (University College London) has clearly demonstrated for the first time the structure and function of a gene crucial to the regulation of blood pressure. The discovery could be important in the search for new treatments for illnesses such as heart disease, the UK's biggest killer. In a paper published online today in Nature Medicine, the team, led by Professor Patrick Vallance and Dr James Leiper, UCL Department of Medicine, reveal the role of the human gene dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolase (DDAH), showing that loss of DDAH activity disrupts nitric oxide (NO) production. NO is critical in the regulation of blood pressure, nervous system functions and the immune system. The role of DDAH is to break down modified amino acids (Asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) and monomethyl arginine (L-NMMA)) that are produced by the body and have been shown to inhibit NO synthase. These molecules accumulate in various disease states including diabetes, renal failure and pulmonary and systemic hypertension, and their concentration in plasma (the fluid component of blood) is strongly predicative of cardiovascular disease and death. In a healthy human body, the majority of ADMA is eliminated through active metabolism by DDAH. Scientists have hypothesised that if DDAH function is impaired, NO production is reduced, and that this could be an important feature of increased cardiovascular risk. To examine this pathway in more detail, the researchers deleted the DDAH gene in mice. These mice went on to develop hypertension, or high blood pressure. They also designed specific inhibitors (small molecules) which bind to the active site of human DDAH. These small molecule inhibitors also induced hypertension in mice, confirming the importance of DDAH in the regulation of blood pressure. Dr Leiper, UCL Medicine, said: “These genetic and chemical approaches to disrupt DDAH showed remarkably consistent results, and provide compelling evidence that loss of DDAH function increases the concentration of ADMA and thereby disrupts vascular NO signalling. “There has been considerable scientific interest in this pathway and the role of ADMA as a novel risk factor, but so far there's been little evidence to support the idea that it's a cause of disease, rather than just a marker. Genes and their pathways are crucial to our understanding of cardiovascular disease and a better understanding of DDAH-1 could lead to important new treatments. “It could help us to establish if genetic variation predisposes certain people to these diseases, or whether environmental factors exert some of their effects through modulation of DDAH activity. “Our research also shows that this pathway could be harnessed therapeutically to limit production of NO in certain situations where too much nitric oxide is a bad thing; for example, hypotension and septic shock. These are some of the biggest problems in intensive care medicine and there is a huge unmet need for drug treatments.” The study, which was carried out at UCL's Rayne Institute, was funded by grants from the British Heart Foundation, the Wellcome Trust and the Medical Research Council. Professor Jeremy Pearson, Associate Medical Director of the British Heart Foundation, said: "The unexpected finding in the 1980s that a simple gas, nitric oxide (NO), is made by cells in the blood vessel wall and is a powerful control of blood vessel relaxation led to the award of the Nobel Prize in 1998 to its discoverers. "More recently, there has been increasing evidence that impairment of NO production is likely to be an important factor in the development of heart and circulatory disease, but the mechanisms responsible are not fully understood. "This study suggests for the first time that the loss of the activity of the enzyme DDAH-1 leads to reduced NO production and may cause heart and circulatory disease. These findings are likely to be important in the search for new ways to optimise the health of our blood vessels." ### Notes for Editors 1. For more information, please contact Ruth Metcalfe in the UCL Media Relations Office on tel: +44 (0)20 7679 9739, mobile: +44 (0)7990 675 947, out of hours: +44 (0)7917 271 364, e-mail: r.metcalfe@ucl.ac.uk2. 'Disruption of methylarginine metabolism impairs vascular homeostasis' is published in the February issue of the journal Nature Medicine. Advance online publication is embargoed to 18.00 GMT (13.00 US Eastern) Sunday 4 February 2007. Journalists can obtain copies of the paper by contacting the UCL Media Relations Office.3. The study was funded by the British Heart Foundation, the Wellcome Trust and the Medical Research Council. About UCL Founded in 1826, UCL was the first English university established after Oxford and Cambridge, the first to admit students regardless of race, class, religion or gender, and the first to provide systematic teaching of law, architecture and medicine. In the government's most recent Research Assessment Exercise, 59 UCL departments achieved top ratings of 5* and 5, indicating research quality of international excellence. UCL is the fourth-ranked UK university in the 2006 league table of the top 500 world universities produced by the Shanghai Jiao Tong University. UCL alumni include Mahatma Gandhi (Laws 1889, Indian political and spiritual leader); Jonathan Dimbleby (Philosophy 1969, writer and television presenter); Junichiro Koizumi (Economics 1969, Prime Minister of Japan); Lord Woolf (Laws 1954, Lord Chief Justice of England & Wales); Alexander Graham Bell (Phonetics 1860s, inventor of the telephone), and members of the band Coldplay.
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2. Study suggests estrogen deficiency can lead to obesity-induced high blood pressure after menopause
   08-08-2007 · EurekAlert!
   At menopause, women lose hormone protection against heart and kidney diseases, and are likely to become obese. A research team has tested the idea that estrogen deficiency in aged females may trigger the development of high blood pressure and obesity. The results of their study, using an animal model, suggest that estrogen depletion can have these effects.
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3. Diesel exhaust may increase risk in patients with heart disease
   09-12-2007 · EurekAlert!
   Air pollution could be putting patients with heart disease at risk by affecting blood vessels and clotting, researchers warn. A study by the University of Edinburgh and UmeA University measured the effects of diesel exhaust on heart and blood vessel function in men who have previously experienced a heart attack.
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4. Blood-vessel blocker aids cancer-killing virus
   11-27-2007 · EurekAlert!
   Cancer-killing viruses are a promising therapy for incurable brain tumors, but their effectiveness has been limited in part because immune cells rapidly eliminate them. That immune response might be slowed, and the virus given more time to kill cancer cells, by blocking the growth of blood vessels in the tumor, new Ohio State research suggests. The study indicates that pretreatment with a drug that blocks blood-vessel growth might improve the effectiveness of cancer-killing viruses.
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5. Enbrel provides sustained clinical improvements for ankylosing spondylitis for up to 3 years
   11-13-2006 · EurekAlert!
   Amgen (NASDAQ: AMGN) announced patients with ankylosing spondylitis who received treatment with Enbrel (R) (etanercept) experienced sustained improvement in signs and symptoms, spinal mobility and physical function over 148 to 160 weeks of therapy, according to data from an ongoing open-label, multinational, phase 4 extension study presented at the American College of Rheumatology scientific meeting. These results are consistent with an ENBREL phase 3 clinical trial at 24 weeks.
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6. Feeling hot, hot, hot: New study suggests ways to control fever-induced seizures
   08-21-2007 · EurekAlert!
   Scientists at the University of Toronto Mississauga and Queen's University show that genetic variation in the foraging gene results in different tolerance for heat stress and demonstrate how the use of specific drugs can replicate this effect in fruit flies and locusts. While the findings are at an early stage, the researchers suggest that they could lead to ways to rapidly protect the brain from extremely high fevers in mammals, including humans.
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7. Repair not destruction: A new approach to treating retinopathy
   11-16-2006 · EurekAlert!
   Many diseases of the eye (such as diabetic retinopathy) that result in loss of vision are the result of the growth of abnormal blood vessels that leak and bleed. Current treatments prevent this abnormal blood vessel growth. However, the authors of a new study using a mouse model of retinopathy suggest that an alternative treatment strategy might be to repair these blood vessels so that they do not leak and bleed.
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8. Treatment with SN reduces injury to the brain following stroke
   12-13-2007 · EurekAlert!
   Stroke is the term used to describe deteriorating brain function due to either the leaking of blood vessels (hemorrhage) or oxygen deprivation (ischemia) in the brain. A new report has revealed a beneficial effect of the protein secretoneurin in rat with ischemia-induced stroke, leading the authors of the study to suggest that SN holds promise as a small-molecule drug for the treatment of individuals who have had a stroke.
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9. Is there such a thing as too much sugar?
   04-02-2007 · EurekAlert!
   Treatment with insulin can cause hypoglycemia (low levels of glucose in the blood), which, if prolonged, can lead to neuronal death, brain injury and coma. In a new study, researchers found that in hypoglycemic mice, neuronal death is triggered by treatment with glucose rather than by the hypoglycemia. This suggests that it might be best to treat individuals in hypoglycemic coma by gradually increasing their blood glucose levels rather than by restoring glucose levels rapidly.
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10. Study reveals a key to blood vessel growth and possible drug target
    10-14-2007 · EurekAlert!
    Researchers have identified a molecular pathway that plays a critical role in the growth of blood vessels. The finding not only offers an important insight into the development of the vascular system during embryonic development but suggests a potential target for inhibiting the blood vessels that fuel cancers, diabetic eye complications and atherosclerosis, the researchers say.
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