This Natural Sugar May Prevent Arteries From Clogging

You’ve been told time and time again that artificial or processed sugars are bad for your health, especially when it comes to things like aspartame or processed white sugars or syrups.

The whole “don’t eat this; eat this instead,” argument is almost dizzying in its confusion sometimes, but the idea that processed sugars cause problems isn’t necessarily wrong. Too much of a sweet and sugary thing can raise your risk for everything from obesity to high blood pressure.

Just the simple act of sticking with natural sugars can reduce your risk profile dramatically, especially if you choose the right natural sugars in the first place. One of these natural sugars, trehalose, is especially beneficial to your heart.

How Plaque Impacts the Heart

Plaque buildup in your blood vessels is one of the main culprits of heart disease. It causes problems by narrowing and hardening your arteries.

This is bad enough on its own, but worse yet, it eventually results in high blood pressure. Your heart continues to pump the same amount of blood, but it’s being squeezed through a smaller pipe. That’s added wear and tear on your arteries, just as it is for your kitchen plumbing.

Why Plaque Happens

Scientists don’t know the exact reason why plaque builds up. What they do have is a pretty good picture of the grand scheme.

It all starts with your immune system. Your body contains cells called macrophages, also know as “big eaters”. Think of them like the garbage trucks of your body. They eat up bad particles and cells and then spit them out as a sort of cellular goo.

This goo isn’t a problem on its own unless the blood vessels are clogged with plaque. When they become clogged, you have a condition called atherosclerosis. Plaque overwhelms macrophages, eventually causing them to die off and add to the pile of goo your body needs to clear. The entire macrophage system can grind to a near-halt, preventing immune system efficiency.

The Trehalose Fix

Enter trehalose. Trehalose supercharges your immune cells and gives them more power to clean things up. It causes your immune cells to remove the plaque from your arteries. Some studies illustrate up to a 30 percent reduction in plaque when they fueled macrophages with trehalose.

That’s great news for people with atherosclerosis or for those who are predisposed to heart disease.

Unfortunately, one tiny catch does exist: trehalose needs to be injected for you to gain those benefits directly. Research continues to investigate the natural sugar for pill production, and will likely create plaque-busting pills in the coming years.