Age and cardiovascular disease linked

Researchers have discovered a fundamental mechanism that causes aging blood vessels to lose their elasticity, creating a literal “hardening of the arteries” that is often a prelude to high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease.

An understanding of this mechanism, scientists say, provides an important new target for both drugs and dietary changes that might help prevent or treat atherosclerosis and heart disease. This is a leading cause of death around the world that, in some form, affects about 80% of older Americans.

The findings were made by the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University (OSU) and published in the journal Aging Cell. They could ultimately provide a new, fundamental and possibly inexpensive way to treat or prevent high blood pressure, according to the study.

The biological effects of inflammation increasingly seem to be implicated not only in heart disease but also in other chronic and neurologic diseases.

What has been known for some time is that blood vessels, as they age, lose much of their capacity to relax, even in healthy vessels. If the vessels are narrowed by atherosclerotic lesions the problem worsens. High blood pressure is often the result, which in turn can lead to heart attacks, strokes, and death.

What has not been known is exactly why this “hardening” of the blood vessels occurs with age. The new OSU study answers much of that question.

Basically, in older blood vessels, the cellular signaling process is breaking down. They still have the ability to relax much as they did when they were younger, but they are not getting the message.

The research showed the capacity to make aging blood vessels behave as if they were young again, which points the way to use diet to prevent the decline in blood vessel function with age, and to treat it, if necessary, through drugs.