Cardiovascular diseases are one of the main causes of mortality in Spain. A field of study that the Center for Biomedical Research in Network-Pathophysiology of Obesity and Nutrition (CIBEROBN), through the study PREDIMED (Prevention with Mediterranean Diet), continues to expand and address its prevention in collaboration with international organizations. From this year to 2021, CIBEROBN, together with Harvard University, will develop a new competitive project to study how the Mediterranean diet can attenuate the development of emerging cardiovascular 'epidemics' such as heart failure, atrial fibrillation and peripheral arteriopathy.

The project, with a budget of more than two million dollars (2,261,332 $), will be directed from Spain by Professors Miguel Ángel Martínez González (University of Navarra) and Jordi Salas-Salvadó (University Rovira i Virgili of Tarragona), both IPs of CIBEROBN, and by Professor Frank Hu (US entity). It will also participate collaboratively different researchers from the PREDIMED study through CIBEROBN. The project seeks to know how certain foods integrated in the Mediterranean diet attenuate the adverse effects of certain metabolites in blood on some emerging cardiovascular diseases.

New cardiovascular epidemics

Three are the cardiovascular diseases of epidemic proportions axes of study in this new project: the heart failure, produced by an imbalance between the capacity of the heart to pump blood and the needs of the organism; atrial fibrillation, the most frequent cardiac arrhythmia in clinical practice; and peripheral artery disease or obstruction of the arteries of the legs, commonly present between smokers and diabetics and at high risk of amputation. Food, in all cases, coupled with unhealthy habits, largely determine their appearance and development.

Predimed, international long distance study

The program starts as a continuation of the consolidated collaboration between the University of Navarra and Harvard also within the framework of the PREDIMED study, focusing on the previous phases in cardiovascular diseases such as heart attack, stroke and cardiovascular death. "We wanted to go a step further, deepening the research of diseases of high prevalence where we have shown that the Mediterranean diet decreases its development. The PREDIMED study, the largest clinical trial in Spain, is the ideal scientific context for this", says Jordi Salas, CIBEROBN group leader and co-director of the project.

The collaborative work will allow the detection of up to 7,000 metabolites thanks to the latest generation chemical analyzes conducted by the Broad Institute of Harvard from the frozen samples to be sent from Spain. "It is a very innovative project, not only for its own conceptual design, in which Miguel Ruiz-Canela, a member of our Navarrese group plays a key role, but also for working with very advanced techniques from the biochemical, which offers us enormous advantages to the CIBEROBN groups, positioning it once again as a reference center and valuing its international prestige", says Miguel Ángel Martínez-González, group leader of CIBEROBN and also co-director of the project.

Since its launch, the PREDIMED study has attracted the interest of the prestigious American university, which has worked in coordination with the University of Navarra to obtain funding from the United States National Institute of Health (NIH) through two projects previous ones managed by the institution of Pamplona, ​​that have given rise to more than a fortnight of publications of great impact.

About the CIBEROBN

The CIBER in its thematic area of ​​Obesity and Nutrition Pathophysiology (CIBEROBN) is a consortium made up of 33 national working groups of contrasted scientific excellence, focusing its research work on the study of obesity, nutrition and physical exercise in order to generate useful knowledge for clinical praxis, the food industry and society as a whole. He also works on the benefits of the Mediterranean diet, prevention of metabolic disorders, childhood obesity and the relationship between obesity and cancer. Belonging to the Carlos III Health Institute, CIBEROBN is co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).