May 10, 2001 - Cincinnati Children's Study Provides New Explanation For Difference in Heart Disease Risk Between Men and Women
CINCINNATI -- A new Children's Hospital Medical Center of Cincinnati study provides a novel explanation for why women have a lower risk of heart disease than men of similar age.
The study, published in the current issue of Circulation Research, is the first to show that the female hormone estrogen turns on Akt, a protective enzyme that promotes cell survival, in hearts of humans and mice. Moreover, the landmark study, led by Mark Sussman, Ph.D., indicates that this protective benefit may be induced through a diet rich in soy protein that contains plant estrogens.
That men have an increased risk for midlife heart failure has been known for years, although the reason for their increased risk remains controversial. When recently published research showed that estrogen turns on Akt in cells other than those in the heart, Dr. Sussman began to wonder whether young women have higher levels of Akt activity in their hearts than comparably aged men or post-menopausal women.
The researchers obtained samples of heart tissue from adults who had died from causes other than cardiovascular disease. Younger women had six times the level of active Akt as men in the same age range. After menopause, however, the levels were equal.
The researchers also studied Akt activation in hearts of mice. Dr. Sussman treated the mice with genistein, a plant estrogen compound enriched in soy diets. "Treated mice showed increased Akt activation compared to littermates not given genistein," says Dr. Sussman, an assistant professor in Cincinnati Children's division of Molecular Cardiovascular Biology.
"We know that genistein has estrogenic activity," says Dr.Sussman. "The difference in disease risk between middle-aged men and women may be, at least in part, due to activation of Akt by estrogen in women that does not normally happen in men. A diet high in soy products containing plant estrogens appears to have cardio-protective effects for both men and women."
The study was funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health and American Heart Association.
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Contact Information
Jim Feuer (jfeuer@chmcc.org), 513-636-4420
