14 DAY TRIAL // A new research from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, suggests that bacteria in the mouth and/or in the intestines can affect the development of atherosclerosis.
We could imagine that our mouth is a very clean place, where there is no bacteria if we brush our teeth and keep a healthy oral hygiene.
But scientific research has actually proven that inside a mouth there are lots of bacteria and if someone could look carefully enough, they would probably be scared of what they would find.
The human body hosts ten times more bacteria than cells and scientific research over these past years has shown that the gut flora, for example, is altered in obesity, and over time, this can lead to cardiovascular problems.
Also, the lack of dental care and periodontitis have been related to atherosclerosis, and this would mean that there is a connection between the disease and bacteria inside the mouth or gut, fact that might actually lead to new strategies for treating this condition.
Fredrik Bäckhed, researcher at the Sahlgrenska Academy’s Department of Molecular and Clinical Medicine, said that “the causes of atherosclerosis have recently become clearer, but we know less about why the plaque in the arteries ruptures and contributes to clot formation.
“We tested the hypothesis that bacteria from the mouth and/or the gut could end up in the atherosclerotic plaque and thus contribute to the development of cardiovascular disease.”
During their study, the researchers found that the number of bacteria in the plaque was related to the number of white blood cells, which measure inflammation.
By using modern sequencing methods they compared the composition of the bacteria in the mouth, gut and arterial plaque of 15 patients, with that of the mouth and gut of 15 healthy control individuals.
The results showed that many bacteria lived in the atherosclerotic plaques, in the mouth and in the gut of the same patient, and that the Pseudomonas luteola and Chlamydia pneumoniae bacteria were present in all atherosclerotic plaques.
These findings reveal that the bacteria enters the body through the mouth and gut and stops in the plaque, where they cause its inflammation and breakdown.
Also, apparently some bacteria in the mouth and gut were related to biomarkers that signal cardiovascular disease, AlphaGalileo reports.
Bäckhed said that “finding the same bacteria in atherosclerotic plaque as in the mouth and gut of the same individual paves the way for new diagnosis and treatment strategies that work on the body’s bacteria.
“However, our findings must be backed up by larger studies, and a direct causal relationship established between the bacteria identified and atherosclerosis.”
These results will be published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, PNAS.