Get the Nobel Prize ready: Powdered Booze Could Fix Your Clogged Arteries

Popular Science:

Scientists have discovered that a compound already approved by the FDA can dissolve away fats and cholesterol buildup in the blood vessels more effectively than existing treatments. The researchers published their study today in Science Translational Medicine.

The compound is called beta-cyclodextrin, and it’s already used in some pharmaceuticals to bind the active drug to fatty acids in the body where it is most needed.

Now, here's the good news: beta-cyclodextrin is also the main ingredient used to make powdered alcohol.

The researchers suspected that the same compound delivered into the blood stream could bind to those plaques around the blood vessels.

To test their hypothesis, the researchers fed mice a cholesterol-heavy diet for 12 weeks, which they knew would lead to a buildup of fatty plaques in their blood vessels. After eight weeks, they started injecting the mice with cyclodextrin twice per week. Over the remaining four weeks, the researchers found that the compound reduced the plaques by 46 percent without affecting the mice’s overall cholesterol level. 

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