A team of scientists in Japan has identified a common food supplement with the efficacy of reversing dangerous heart disease. The scientists at Osaka University said this common supplement, which is already sold in Japan, may reverse a dangerous form of heart disease that often resists standard treatment by helping to “unclog” certain diseased heart arteries from the inside out.
The findings, originally published in the European Heart Journal, continue to attract attention because they describe something rarely seen in cardiology — clogged heart arteries becoming noticeably clearer after a nutritional intervention rather than conventional cholesterol lowering alone.
Coronary artery disease (CAD) is one of the world’s leading causes of death. In most cases, the condition develops when cholesterol-rich plaque narrows the arteries that supply blood to the heart, increasing the risk of chest pain, heart attack, and heart failure.
While researchers in Japan have spent years studying a lesser-known and often overlooked condition called triglyceride deposit cardiomyovasculopathy (TGCV), which is driven by the buildup of triglycerides inside cells within the heart and blood vessel walls.
The disorder appears to stem from defective intracellular fat breakdown, which allows fatty deposits to accumulate where they should not.
“Almost 15 years ago, we identified a new type of CAD called triglyceride deposit cardiomyovasculopathy (TGCV), in which the coronary arteries are occluded by triglyceride deposits generated by defective intracellular breakdown of triglycerides in vascular smooth muscle cells.
“This mechanism makes TGCV distinct from classic cholesterol-induced atherosclerosis, and accounts for patients who are resistant to standard remedies for CAD,” said lead author, Ken-ichi Hirano. According to researchers, TGCV appears especially common in people with diabetes mellitus and in patients undergoing hemodialysis.
Because the condition can resemble conventional coronary artery disease, many cases may go undiagnosed. Tricaprin Produced “Remarkable” Changes The Osaka University team focused on tricaprin, a commercially available dietary supplement believed to stimulate fat metabolism in heart muscle cells.
The published report described two patients in their 60s who had diabetes mellitus, severe chest pain, and persistent coronary artery disease that did not respond adequately to existing treatments. After being diagnosed with TGCV, both patients began taking tricaprin regularly.
Within months, their symptoms improved significantly. More surprisingly, followup scans revealed visible changes inside the arteries themselves. Imaging showed reduced triglyceride buildup and widening of previously narrowed blood vessels.
Researchers also observed evidence of increased fat breakdown activity within heart tissue. “Now we report a remarkable regression of diffuse coronary atherosclerosis in two patients with TGCV. “Both had suffered from refractory chest pain and diabetes until diagnosis with TGCV, and subsequent dietary intake of tricaprin led to symptom relief,” Hirano stated.
