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Weight Loss Decreases ACE Enzyme That Controls Blood Pressure
posted 11/01/02
People who find it hard to
lose all the weight they want, need to know that even losing modest amounts of
weight can pay off in better health.
The study showed for the first
time that shedding excess pounds decreases activity of a key enzyme known to
play a central role in high blood pressure, said Dr. Joyce Harp, associate
professor of nutrition and medicine at the UNC schools of public health and
medicine. Less body weight translates into lower blood pressure, the study
confirmed, and hence lower risks for cardiovascular disease, stroke, kidney
disease and other health problems.
Published in the October 2002 issue of the journal Obesity Research, the
investigation was conducted at Emory University in Atlanta where Harp previously
worked.
"We intensively studied 16 obese but otherwise healthy, non-diabetic adults and
our goal was to determine if blood pressure regulating enzymes and hormones that
are produced in fatty tissue are lowered by modest dietary weight loss."
Volunteers were supplied with calorie-restricted, defined diets that enabled
them to lose modest amounts of weight, about 5 to 10 percent.
Researchers found that in addition to significant decreases in blood pressure,
angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) activity was suppressed most dramatically
with weight loss, she said. Plasma renin activity and serum aldosterone levels
also declined, but those changes were not as great as the drop in ACE activity.
ACE activity declined an average of 18 percent. Swallowing a sugar solution had
no effect on the measured values, suggesting that calorie intake does not affect
ACE in the short term.
"Even when people just lost about 7 percent of their initial weight and were
still obese at the end of the study, they still had a significant improvement in
ACE activity and also in blood pressure," she said. "A previous study had shown
that as body mass index went up, ACE went up as well. Our new work shows that it
goes down as weight disappears."
These results are relevant to patients because ACE-inhibiting drugs already are
among the most often prescribed medications in the world for controlling blood
pressure and treating both coronary artery disease and diabetic kidney disease,
the scientist said. Future studies may determine that modest weight loss and the
associated decrease in ACE produce the same health benefits as ACE inhibiter
drug treatment.
"It's well known that losing weight will lower your blood pressure," Harp said.
"We believe our work helps explain why that happens. The most important new
finding, we believe, is this hormonal/enzymatic change that accompanies weight
loss."
One key difference between the new investigation and previous work was that
Harp's group did not place subjects on very low calorie diets -- less than 1,000
calories per day -- over longer periods, which few people could hope to maintain
on their own, she said. Instead, they wanted to use a diet that motivated obese
patients could stick to.
Source: Diabetes In Control Dot Com: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
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