It has been identified for some time that high-fat meals can quickly impair artery perform by inflicting constriction of the arteries. That is often demonstrated within the arm (brachial artery) as a result of that’s the best to measure. It was additionally made well-known within the film The Gamechangers as a result of it may well impair perform in an organ close to and pricey to males beneath the waist. However this can be a non permanent impact that will go away after just a few hours, so you might marvel how vital this phenomenon this actually is healthwise.

This was answered in a research that seemed on the impact of high-fat meals on coronary arteries, as reviewed in Dr. Michael Greger’s video “Exercising To Shield Your Arteries From Quick Meals“. It seems coronary artery perform can be equally impaired for just a few hours [1]. Such a meal can dissipate your whole “coronary reserve”, which is how a lot surrounding arteries can broaden as wanted if blood move is restricted in an vital one. A very powerful is the left descending coronary artery, aka “the widowmaker”. The research confirmed move to be drastically diminished on this artery after a high-fat meal. Now think about that you just abruptly needed to climb some stairs shortly or run to catch a prepare. Your coronary heart races, however your coronary reserve is used up and your coronary heart is now not getting sufficient blood provide. This might set off an angina assault or perhaps a coronary heart assault in folks whose coronary arteries are already in danger on account of plaque build-up.
The one excellent news is that train can quickly mitigate this impact. About an hour of reasonable train (like brisk strolling) or 20 minutes of extra intense train (like stair climbing), can offset the impact of a subsequent high-fat meal, however provided that you do it lower than about 18 hours earlier than the meal [2,3]. You can even do the train as much as about an hour after the meal, nevertheless it doesn’t sound like a good suggestion for somebody with coronary artery illness to briskly go up stairs for 20 minutes proper after impairing their coronary artery perform with a high-fat meal.
Once I noticed the quantity of fats within the meal given to the themes, it appeared actually excessive to me, however then I came upon it was only a meal that may be realistically ordered at a fast-food restaurant. So I believe maybe the largest takeaway message is to keep away from such meals. For many of us there’s in all probability no hurt every so often as a “particular deal with”, however for these with coronary artery illness, particularly for those who’ve not been very energetic lately, even one such meal shouldn’t be advisable.
References
- Hozumi, T, et al, “Change in Coronary Stream Reserve on Transthoracic Doppler Echocardiography after a Single Excessive-Fats Meal in Younger Wholesome Males”, Annals of Inside Medication, 2002.
- Teeman, C, et al “Postprandial Lipemic And Inflammatory Responses To Excessive-fat Meals: A Evaluate Of The Roles Of Acute And Power Train”, Vitamin and Metabolism, 2016.
- Cho, M, et al, “The Acute Results Of Interrupting Extended Sitting With Stair Climbing On Vascular And Metabolic Perform After A Excessive-fat Meal”, European Journal of Utilized Physiology, 2020.