Heart disease is the number one cause of death around the world. One of the main reasons people develop heart problems is a condition called atherosclerosis.
This happens when fatty substances, called lipids, build up in the blood vessels and form plaques. These plaques can eventually break open and block blood flow, which may lead to a heart attack or stroke.
A major cause of atherosclerosis is something called dyslipidemia. This means there are too many harmful fats, like cholesterol and triglycerides, in the blood. While doctors often prescribe medications called statins to lower these lipids, these drugs can’t actually remove the plaques that have already formed in the blood vessels.
Now, researchers have made a surprising and exciting discovery. In two recent studies published in the scientific journals Nature Cell Biology and Life Metabolism, scientists found that a mineral called manganese might help fight heart disease in a brand-new way.
Manganese is a trace element—our body needs only a small amount of it—and it was not previously thought to play a major role in heart health.
In experiments with mice, researchers gave higher doses of manganese and saw something incredible: the animals had lower levels of blood lipids and, more importantly, the plaques in their blood vessels started to clear up.
How does this work? It all comes down to how lipids are transported in the blood. Lipids don’t move freely; they are carried by special particles called lipoproteins. These carriers depend on a structure inside cells called the COPII complex. Normally, this complex helps send fats from inside cells out into the bloodstream.
The new studies show that manganese ions can interact with the COPII complex in a powerful way. Manganese helps the COPII proteins clump together—or condense—in a different pattern than usual. This changes how fats are released into the blood, resulting in fewer lipids floating around.
This unique interaction may be the key to why manganese was able to not only reduce harmful lipids but also shrink and clear existing plaques in mice with heart disease. It’s something that current cholesterol-lowering medications have not been able to do.
Dr. Xiao-Wei Chen, the lead author of the studies, says this breakthrough changes how we think about manganese. It may no longer be just a minor helper in the body but a major player in heart health. His team plans to do more research to see how safe and effective manganese-based therapies could be in humans.
They also want to find the best way to give manganese and understand what effects it may have over a long period of time.
This new discovery brings hope. If future studies confirm these results, manganese could become a powerful tool to treat people with heart disease, especially those who already have dangerous plaque buildup.
If you care about your heart, you might also want to read about other studies showing that vitamin K may reduce heart disease risk by a third, or how regular exercise for a year could reverse early heart failure.
For more tips and updates on heart health, scientists are also exploring supplements that may prevent heart attacks and strokes, as well as certain food ingredients that could raise the risk of dying from heart disease.
The findings on manganese and heart health were published in the journal Life Metabolism.
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