Arterial hypertension is frequently associated to glucose and lipid metabolism abnormalities. The purpose of this study was to determine if antioxidants (fruit extract) supplementation interfere with glucose and lipid metabolism in overweight hypertensive patients. A randomized clinical trial was conducted with 30 individuals, 23 hypertensive patients (group A) and 7 normotensive controls (group B). They were randomized to take 3 capsules of different fruits extract a day (blueberry, cranberry and pomegranate) or placebo for 4 weeks. This is a crossover study, which started with placebo changed to capsules and vice versa. Blood samples were collected after 12 hours fasting for biochemical tests (glucose, insulin, total cholesterol, LDL-cholesterol, HDL-cholesterol, triglycerides), anthropometric assessment (weight, height, and body mass index), systolic BP, diastolic BP and heart rate were evaluated at baseline, after 4, and 8 weeks. The comparisons between groups were held with the GLM repeated measures. Twenty three hypertensive patients (age 47 years, 14 females) and 7 normotensive controls (age 40 years, 7 females) were evaluated. BMI, blood pressure, heart and lipid profile did not differ between groups. HOMAir decreased significantly in both groups. See results in table 1.
Values are expressed as medians (±SD)
In these preliminary results a 4-weeks supplementation of antioxidants (fruit extract) improved insulin resistance in overweight hypertensive and normotensive subjects.
Financial support: FAPESP 2014/25808-3
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.