Even health aficionados have cheat days where they indulge in high-fat meals, but just that one meal could spell trouble for your health. A new research has revealed that just one high-fat meal can set the perfect stage for heart disease.
According to a Medical College of Georgia at Augusta University-led study, the healthy red blood cells can be ruined with just a single high-fat milkshake. The research team found that four hours after consuming a milkshake made with whole milk, heavy whipping cream and ice cream, a healthy person's blood vessels will be less relaxed and the immune system will be similar to one provoked by an infection.
The researchers believe their study, the results of which were published in the journal Laboratory Investigation, could help explain isolated reports of deaths or heart attacks after consuming a high-fat meal.
"We see this hopefully as a public service to get people to think twice about eating this way," researcher Neal L. Weintraub, author of the study, was quoted as saying. "The take-home message is that your body can usually handle this if you don't do it again at the next meal and the next and the next," Julia E. Brittain, another author of the study.
Interestingly, the healthy males in the study who consumed a meal with the same number of calories but no fat did not experience the harmful changes to their blood, red blood cells, and blood vessels.
"You are looking at what one, high-fat meal does to blood-vessel health," said Ryan A. Harris, study's co-author.
A similar study was released in 2006 where The Heart Research Institute in Sydney, Australia, analysed the health of 14 people, ages 18-40, after they ate two meals of carrot cake and a milkshake one month apart.
One meal was high in saturated fat as it used coconut oil and the other was high in polyunsaturated fat — using safflower oil.
The researchers, led by Dr. Stephen Nicholls, a cardiologist, found that just three hours after eating the saturated-fat cake and shake, the lining of the arteries was prevented from expanding to increase blood flow. The anti-inflammatory properties of the good cholesterol were reduced after six hours.
Interestingly, the polyunsaturated meal improved those anti-inflammatory qualities.
