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New CLA research targets cardiovascular disease

A natural fatty acid found in dairy and beef products is offering new hope in the research battle to target a metabolic syndrome linked to infertility and cardiovascular disease risk.

Conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) in its natural form is produced only by ruminant animals and is commonly found in products such as milk, yogurt, cheese and beef. Though research into CLA is in early stages, it has drawn excitement in scientific and health communities by showing substantial potential to enhance health.

Now University of Alberta researchers are pursuing a new study to investigate how CLA may help fight against poly cystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), which affects one in 10 women of childbearing age and is a leading cause of infertility. PCOS is also highly associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD) and diabetes risk.

"Our preliminary research to date has provided a strong indication that CLA may have beneficial effects for reducing CVD and diabetes risk factors which are associated with PCOS," says Dr. Donna Vine of the Metabolic and Cardiovascular Diseases Laboratory at the Alberta Institute for Human Nutrition, University of Alberta. "With further research to confirm these benefits, natural dietary CLA and its precursor trans vaccenic acid (VA) may ultimately have an important role in treatment strategies."

The cause of PCOS is considered multi-factorial but researchers believe a genetic predisposition, and how the body responds to insulin levels is a major factor. Given the prevalence of PCOS there is concern regarding its relationship to the onset of CVD and diabetes. Therefore, options for managing the condition, including dietary interventions, may offer tools for attenuating features of the syndrome and metabolic risk factors.

The opportunity presented by CLA may be to offer targeted treatment for CVD and diabetes risk factors, either as a primary treatment or a complementary one used with other options, says Vine, who leads the new study.

The promise of CLA as an option to treat metabolic aberrations in PCOS is based on studies led by the University of Alberta researchers related to CLA effects on body weight, lipids and insulin sensitivity, as well their establishment of a new research model for PCOS that represents a breakthrough for scientific progress in this area.

One key study led by Dr. Spencer Proctor examined benefits of CLA used in combination with chromium (published in Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism, 2006).

"There's a lot of work in the diabetes field around growing evidence that certain types of chromium, taken as a tablet or a nutraceutical, can help control the use of insulin and glucose," says Proctor. "Our work indicated CLA combined with chromium as an intervention may have enhanced benefits, including specific relevance for PCOS. The new study will take this research a step further by focusing on the potential PCOS-related benefits, using the new model."

The new research model for PCOS is based on a strain of rats that is a model for the metabolic syndrome – a combination of medical disorders that increases the risk of developing cardiovascular disease and diabetes. It is the males of this strain that have typically been used as a model in research studies. However, the females of this strain also have the metabolic syndrome and they are infertile.

"The accumulating evidence of the role of insulin resistance in PCOS combined with the infertility observed in the female rats, led us to examine the role of the females in this strain as a model for PCOS," says Vine.

Several years of research verified and characterized the new model, with the science now published in the journal Endocrinology. The technical name for the strain is the female JCR:LA-cp rat and is considered a spontaneous PCOS-like model.

"We believe there's a clustering of features in the genetic phenotype of these animal models that closely mimics what we may see in families that are at risk for PCOS and related conditions," says Vine.

Scientists involved in the ongoing PCOS research are participants in the CLA Network. The network involves researchers and people in supporting disciplines across Canada who are investigating the health potential of ruminant-based fatty acids such as CLA.

Research to develop the new model and carry out the new study is supported in part by the Alberta Livestock Industry Development Fund (ALIDF). More information on CLA Network progress is available at www.clanetwork.com.

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