Gut bacteria may have a role in a person’s risk for having a heart attack.
The team behind a new study said there is a link between certain bacteria in the microbiome and coronary atherosclerotic plaques. The plaques, which form from fat and cholesterol deposits, can ultimately cause heart attacks. The findings were published in the journal Circulation.
The team looked at cardiac images and gut health analyses from 8,973 people who were between 50 and 65 years old. All of the people were from Sweden. None of them had heart disease when the study started.
Which germs are the culprits? The researchers found that bacteria from our mouths — namely Streptococcus bacteria — that were also in the gut were linked with a higher occurrence of atherosclerotic plaques in the small arteries of the heart. These bacteria commonly cause everything from pneumonia to throat infections. The two most common bacteria were Streptococcus anginosus and S. oralis subsp. oralis.
“We now need to understand whether these bacteria are contributing to atherosclerosis development,” Tove Fall, PhD, a professor in Molecular Epidemiology at the Department of Medical Sciences and the SciLifeLab at Uppsala University, said in a statement.
Interestingly, the team found that some of the same species tied to fatty deposits in the heart had similar levels in the mouth. The bacteria were linked to inflammation markers in the blood, even after researchers adjusted for differences in medication and diet among participants who had the bacteria and those who didn’t.
“Our study shows worse cardiovascular health in carriers of streptococci in their gut. We now need to investigate if these bacteria are important players in atherosclerosis development,” added Marju Orho-Melander, PhD, a professor in Genetic Epidemiology at Lund University, another study author.
There’s some past research on the connection between gut health and heart health. Some evidence shows high-fat, high-cholesterol diets can promote atherosclerosis through the way gut bacteria interact with the immune system. Changes in gut health have been tied to shifts in blood pressure, heart disease, and more.
