By David Liu, Ph.D. and editing by Reynolds

Saturday May 21, 2011 (foodconsumer.org) -- A study led by Gilbert EL and Ryan MJ. at the University of Mississippi Medical Center suggests dietary fat promotes renal injury and peripheral vascular dysfunction and boosts visceral obesity in mice with systemic lupus erythematosus or SLU, the most common form of lupus.

In the study, 11 SLE mice aged 24 weeks were fed either a control diet (10% energy from fat) or a high fat diet (45% energy from fat) for 14 weeks.

Dietary fat did not seem to affect body weight and food intake was similar in both groups.  However, more mice fed the high fat diet suffered albuminuria compared to those who were fed a low fat diet, 57% versus 20%.  Albuminuria is a condition where albumin (protein) is found in the urine. The condition indicates the kidneys are damaged.

The high fat diet also impaired endothelial-dependent relaxation in carotid arteries compared to the controls.  The mice on the high fat diet also showed increased ovarian fat and decreased liver weight compared with the controls.

The effect of the high fat diet on the metabolic and cardiovascular parameters suggests that a high fat diet would increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, which is a major cause of mortality in people with lupus.

Another study led by B.H. Hahn of the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California Los Angeles found high fat diet with or without leptin, a hormone that regulates energy intake and expenditure, increased total serum cholesterol, high density lipoproteins and caused atherosclerosis in lupus-prone mice.

Also in the lupus-prone mice, leptin increased in pro-inflammatory high density lipoprotein scores and led to the development of atherosclerosis and proteinuria.

Source:

Gend Med. 2011 Apr;8(2):150-5.

High dietary fat promotes visceral obesity and impaired endothelial function in female mice with systemic lupus erythematosus.

Gilbert EL, Ryan MJ.

Department of Physiology and Biophysics, University of Mississippi Medical Center, Jackson, Mississippi.

Lupus. 2010 Jul;19(8):913-7. Epub 2010 Apr 21.

Pro-inflammatory high-density lipoproteins and atherosclerosis are induced in lupus-prone mice by a high-fat diet and leptin.

Hahn BH, Lourencço EV, McMahon M, Skaggs B, Le E, Anderson M, Iikuni N, Lai CK, La Cava A.

Division of Rheumatology, David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA. bhahn@mednet.ucla.edu

What is lupus?

Lupus is a condition in which the immune system mistakenly attacks healthy cells and tissues damaging the skin, joints, organs and blood vessels.

The most common form of lupus is systemic lupus erythematosus, which affects many parts of the body. Discord lupus causes an ever-lasting rash.  Subacute cutaneous lupus causes sores after exposure to the sun and neonatal lupus affects newborns.

At high risk are women, particularly African American, Asian, Hispanic and Native American women.  No one knows what causes the disease. An estimated 2 million of Americans live with lupus, compared to 15 million worldwide, according to the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation.

Common symptoms of lupus include joint pain or swelling, muscle pain, fever without known cause, red rashes. It takes months or years to diagnose lupus. 

The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases says there is no cure for the disease.

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