Antioxidants can help prevent heart attacks, study shows

NEW YORK The bacteria-fighting enzyme that causes nasal mucus to turn green also causes damage during heart attacks, but scientists in Australia may have found a way to control it.

According to published reports, researchers at the University of Sydney’s Heart Research Institute and the Queensland University of Technology have found antioxidants that could control the enzyme myeloperoxidase and stop it from causing damage when white blood cells release it during heart attacks. Normally, the cells dump myeloperoxidase on bacteria to kill them.

The research will appear in Biochemical Journal.