Heart disease remains the leading cause of death worldwide, and one major cause is a slow process that damages the arteries.
Over many years, cholesterol, fats and other materials can collect inside artery walls and form deposits called plaques.
These deposits can make arteries narrower and reduce blood flow. More dangerously, a plaque can sometimes break open and trigger a blood clot, which may block blood flow to the heart or brain and cause a heart attack or stroke.
High levels of unhealthy fats in the blood can increase this risk. Doctors often pay close attention to cholesterol and triglycerides because keeping them under control is an important part of preventing heart and blood vessel disease.
Medicines such as statins can greatly lower harmful cholesterol and reduce the risk of heart attacks and strokes. They can also help make artery plaques less dangerous, but researchers continue to search for new ways to shrink existing plaque and improve the way the body handles fats.
Research published in the journal Life Metabolism points to an unexpected possibility: manganese. This mineral is needed by the body in very small amounts and is involved in normal processes including bone health and the work of several important enzymes.
In two studies, researchers investigated how manganese affects the movement of fats through the body. Their experiments suggested that manganese could lower cholesterol and triglycerides and reduce plaque buildup in mice with artery disease.
To understand the finding, it helps to know how fats travel through the body. Cholesterol and triglycerides cannot simply move freely through the watery bloodstream, so the body packages them into particles that can transport them to different tissues.
The researchers found that manganese affected part of the cell machinery involved in preparing and moving these fat-carrying particles. By changing this process, manganese altered how much fat entered the bloodstream.
The effect depended strongly on the amount of manganese used. At certain doses, cholesterol and triglyceride levels fell substantially, and mice with artery disease showed a large reduction in plaque inside their arteries.
Dr. Xiao Wang, who led the research, said the discovery could point toward a new approach to preventing or treating heart and blood vessel disease. A manganese-based treatment might eventually offer another way to control blood fats while also targeting plaque.
However, the findings should not be taken as a reason for people to start taking large amounts of manganese. The research is still at an early stage, and results in laboratory animals do not guarantee that the same treatment will work safely in humans.
Manganese is an essential nutrient, but excessive amounts can be harmful. Long-term exposure to high levels can affect the nervous system, so researchers will need to carefully study safe doses before any manganese-based treatment could be tested or recommended for heart disease.
Future studies will also need to determine whether the plaque-reducing effect can be reproduced in people and whether it actually lowers the risk of heart attacks and strokes. Scientists will need to compare any new treatment with existing cholesterol-lowering medicines that are already known to save lives.
For now, proven ways to protect the heart remain the most important. These include not smoking, staying physically active, eating a balanced diet, controlling blood pressure and diabetes, and keeping unhealthy cholesterol at an appropriate level with lifestyle changes and medication when needed.
The manganese findings are intriguing because they reveal a previously overlooked way the body may control fats in the bloodstream. If future human studies confirm the results, this common mineral could help scientists develop a new type of treatment aimed not only at lowering blood fats but also at reducing dangerous plaque in the arteries.
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