Inflammation and metabolic disorders.
OBJECTIVE
Poor nutrition, overweight and obesity have increasingly become a public health concern as they affect many metabolic disorders, including heart disease, diabetes, digestive system disorders, and renal failure. Study of the effects of life style including healthy nutrition will help further elucidate the mechanisms involved in the adverse effects of poor nutrition.


RESULTS
Unhealthy life style including poor nutrition can result in imbalance in our oxidation/redox systems. Lipids can undergo oxidative modification by lipoxygenases, cyclooxygenases, myeloperoxidase, and other enzymes. Oxidized phospholipids can induce inflammatory molecules in the liver and other organs. This can contribute to inflammation, leading to coronary heart disease, stroke, renal failure, inflammatory bowl disease, metabolic syndrome, bone and joint disorders, and even certain types of cancer.


CONCLUSIONS
Our antioxidant and antiinflammatory defense mechanisms contribute to a balance between the stimulators and the inhibitors of inflammation. Beyond a point, however, these systems might be overwhelmed and eventually fail. High-density lipoprotein is a potent inhibitor of the formation of toxic oxidized lipids. High-density lipoprotein is also an effective system for stimulating the genes whose products are active in the removal, inactivation, and elimination of toxic lipids. Supporting the high-density lipoprotein function should help maintain the balance in these systems. It is hoped that the present report would elucidate some of the ongoing work toward this goal.
Division of Cardiology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA. mnavab@mednet.ucla.edu
Mohamad
M
Navab
Nima
N
Gharavi
Andrew D
AD
Watson
D001161:Arteriosclerosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D004032:Diet; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D007333:Insulin Resistance; D008019:Life Style; D015227:Lipid Peroxidation; D016328:NF-kappa B / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000378:metabolism; D009747:Nutritional Physiological Phenomena / Q000502:physiology*; D009765:Obesity / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D010743:Phospholipids / Q000502:physiology
D016328:NF-kappa B; D010743:Phospholipids