CharCoal can fight heart disease in patients with kidney failure?

CharCoal can provide a new approach to managing the high rate of heart disease in patients with advanced kidney disease, according to a preliminary study at the American Society of Nephrology 42nd Annual Meeting and Scientific Exhibition presented at San Diego, CA. Patients with advanced renal disease is a proliferation of atherosclerosis (hardening of the arteries ") and death from heart disease. Oral activated charcoal product called STS-120 is traditionally used as emergency treatment for certain forms of poisoning was. Recent studies have shown that AST-120 could exert beneficial effects in kidney disease.

"We found that activated charcoal orally reduces atherosclerotic lesions in mice with experimental kidney damage," says Valentina Kon, MD (Vanderbilt University). "This is particularly important because there is no effective treatment for reducing high rates of cardiovascular mortality in patients with end stage renal disease."

The researchers examined the effects of AST-120 in mice genetically engineered to develop atherosclerosis. The effects were studied in mice with various degrees of kidney.

In mice with impaired renal function, low mass, treatment with AST-120 resulted in a dramatic reduction of atherosclerosis. Thus, it was delayed when treatment was charcoal. Improvement of atherosclerosis is not related to changes in blood pressure or cholesterol. Instead, the effect appears to reduce inflammation in blood vessels are connected.

In mice, activated charcoal orally seems to reduce atherosclerosis in kidney disease. The effect is present at different levels of renal function in advanced atherosclerosis, and even if treatment is delayed. Further research is needed to see if AST 120 provides the same benefits in humans with kidney disease.