What Happens In a Heart Attack?
In a heart attack, a blockage forms in the blood vessels supplying the heart. Heart muscles die if deprived of blood supply. In the emergency room, priority is given to heart attack patients. Blood flow should be restored right away. One way is with an injectable “clot-buster” drug to dissolve the obstructing blood clot. Another way is a specialized procedure where the blockage is located and resolved with a stent.
Reperfusion Injury
Reperfusion of the heart sounds good, but it opens another problem. The restored blood contains needed oxygen. The oxygen reacts with the injured cells and releases free radicals. Free radicals cause further injury and inflammation to the injured heart muscles leading to an increase in the infarct size. That is called reperfusion injury.
Reperfusion injury adds 50% to the final infarct size. The infarct size affects the pumping ability of the heart—the bigger the infarct size, the lower the ability to pump. Heart failure is when the heart cannot pump enough blood for the whole body, and it can lead to an early death.
According to the medical website UptoDate, attempts to minimize reperfusion injury with medications have been disappointing. Until now.
Intermittent Fasting and Reperfusion Injury
The past years have shown interest in intermittent fasting (I.F.) among the scientific community. Animal studies have shown that intermittent fasting protects against reperfusion injury by the following:
- I.F. makes the mitochondria, the power source of the cells, renew themselves at all times. This is like having fresh, fully charged batteries on your phone.
- New mitochondria are resistant to the effects of free radical exposure. Making the heart muscles stress-resistant with less inflammation produced.
- Decreased inflammation resulted in smaller infarct size.
- I.F. also prevents premature cell death (antiapoptosis)
- I.F. trains the heart to relax instead of always in a “fight or flight” mode.
- The combination of 1 -5 leads to a smaller infarct, thus preventing heart failure and early death.
Intermittent fasting reduces the risk factors of a heart attack by decreasing obesity, improving lipid profiles, and lowering blood pressure.
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Related Readings:
- How to Do Intermittent Fasting
- The Kaizen Way of Fasting
- Early Time-Restricted Feeding is Intermittent Fasting In Sync with the Circadian Rhythm
- Will Fasting Make My Muscles Shrink?
- Are You Skipping Breakfast?
- Autophagy – How to Recycle Yourself
- What is Ischemic Preconditioning?
- High-Intensity Interval Training can Activate Ischemic Preconditioning
- Prescriptions that Promote and Pharmaceuticals that Prevent Ischemic Preconditioning
- Can You Be in Heart Failure Now?
One way to decrease reperfusion injury was previously discussed on this website. What is Ischemic Preconditioning?
References:
- Simonis, Gregor, et al. “Reperfusion injury in acute myocardial infarction.” Critical Care, vol. 16, Suppl 2 (2012): A22. doi:10.1186/cc11280
- Ahmet I, Wan R, Mattson MP, et al. Cardioprotection by intermittent fasting in rats. Circulation. 2005;112:3115–21.
- Katare RG, Kakinuma Y, Arikawa M, et al. Chronic intermittent fasting improves the survival following large myocardial ischemia by activation of BDNF/VEGF/PI3K signaling pathway. J Mol Cell Cardiol. 2009;46:405–12.
- Mattson MP, Wan R. Beneficial effects of intermittent fasting and caloric restriction on the cardiovascular and cerebrovascular systems. J Nutr Biochem. 2005;16(3):129–137. doi:10.1016/j.jnutbio.2004.12.007
- Longo VD, Mattson MP. Fasting: molecular mechanisms and clinical applications. Cell Metab 2014; 19:181-92; PMID:24440038
Image Credit:
Heart Attack By Blausen Medical Communications, Inc. – Donated via OTRS, see ticket for details, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=26986463
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