As people get older, their blood vessels often become stiffer and less efficient, which can lead to heart diseases. This hardening of the blood vessels is a major reason why heart problems are so common in older adults.
While there are traditional treatments like exercise, blood pressure medications, and cholesterol-lowering drugs, researchers are always searching for new ways to keep blood vessels healthy as people age.
A recent study published in the journal GeroScience is exploring how a drug called Empagliflozin, or Empa for short, might help with this issue. Empa is usually used to lower blood sugar in people with type 2 diabetes, but scientists now think it could also help with the problems that come with aging blood vessels.
The study began by comparing the blood vessel health of two groups of people: younger adults who were around 25 years old and older adults who were about 61 years old. Not surprisingly, the older adults had more issues with their blood vessels.
The inner lining of their arteries was not as healthy, and their aortas—the main artery that carries blood from the heart—were stiffer. This kind of stiffness is common as people age and can lead to heart problems.
To understand if Empa could help with these issues, researchers moved to an animal study. They chose male mice that were around 72 weeks old, which is considered quite old for mice. The mice were split into two groups. One group received food mixed with Empa, while the other group ate regular food. This experiment lasted for six weeks.
At the end of the study, the mice that ate the Empa-infused food showed big improvements in their blood vessel health. Their arteries were less stiff, their blood vessels functioned better, and they showed other signs of healthier blood flow. In contrast, the mice that did not receive Empa did not show these improvements.
So how does Empa work? Empa belongs to a class of drugs called SGLT2 inhibitors. Normally, SGLT2 helps the kidneys reabsorb glucose back into the blood. Empa blocks this process, causing the body to remove more sugar through urine, which lowers blood sugar levels.
This is how it helps people with diabetes. But this study is the first time researchers have looked at how blocking SGLT2 might also help with problems related to aging blood vessels.
The researchers believe that by lowering blood sugar and reducing inflammation, Empa might also make blood vessels more flexible and less stiff. If this is true, it could become a powerful new way to protect blood vessel health as people age. This would be especially important for preventing heart diseases in older adults.
It is important to remember that these results are still very early. The main part of the study was done on mice, not humans. However, the improvements seen in the mice are promising enough to encourage larger studies in people.
If human studies show similar results, Empa could become a valuable tool for keeping blood vessels healthy in older adults. It would add to the treatments that doctors already use to fight heart disease and improve blood flow.
The study received funding from major organizations, including the National Institutes of Health and a VA Merit Grant. This support highlights the importance of finding new treatments for aging-related health problems. Also, the researchers reported no conflicts of interest, which means their findings are more likely to be trustworthy and unbiased.
The next step is to see if these positive effects hold true in human studies. If they do, Empa could change the way doctors manage aging blood vessels. It could help people live longer, healthier lives with less risk of heart disease. This study is just the beginning, but it opens up exciting possibilities for improving health as we age.
If you care about diabetes, please read studies about bananas and diabetes, and honey could help control blood sugar.
For more health information, please see recent studies about Vitamin D that may reduce dangerous complications in diabetes and results showing plant-based protein foods may help reverse type 2 diabetes.
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