Effects of chronic and acute consumption of fruit- and vegetable-puree-based drinks on vasodilation, risk factors for CVD and the response as a result of theeNOSG298T polymorphism

Abstract

The average UK adult consumes less than three portions of fruit and vegetables daily, despite evidence to suggest that consuming five portions daily could help prevent chronic diseases. It is recommended that fruit juice should only count as one of these portions, as juicing removes fibre and releases sugars. However, fruit juices contain beneficial compounds such as vitamin C and flavonoids and could be a useful source of dietary phytochemicals. Two randomised controlled cross-over intervention studies investigating the effects of chronic and acute consumption of commercially-available fruit-and vegetable-puree-based drinks (FVPD) on bioavailability, antioxidant status and CVD risk factors are described. Blood and urine samples were collected during both studies and vascular tone was measured using laser Doppler imaging. In the chronic intervention study FVPD consumption was found to significantly increase dietary carotenoids (P = 0 . 001) and vitamin C (P = 0 . 003). Plasma carotenoids were increased (P = 0 . 001), but the increase in plasma vitamin C was not significant. There were no significant effects on oxidative stress, antioxidant status and other CVD risk factors. In the acute intervention study FVPD were found to increase total plasma nitrate and nitrite (P = 0 . 001) and plasma vitamin C (P = 0 . 002). There was no effect on plasma lipids or uric acid, but there was a lower glucose and insulin peak concentration after consumption of the FVPD compared with the sugar-matched control. There was a trend towards increased vasodilation following both chronic and acute FVPD consumption. All volunteers were retrospectively genotyped for the eNOS G298T polymorphism and the effect of genotype on the measurements is discussed. Overall, there was a non-significant trend towards increased endothelium-dependent vasodilation following both acute and chronic FVPD consumption. However, there was a significant time · treatment effect (P < 0 . 05) of acute FVPD consumption in individuals with the GG variant of the eNOS gene. Carotenoids: Flavonoids: CVD: Laser Doppler imagingCVD is one of the major causes of death in Europe and is responsible for 4 . 3 · 10 6 deaths each year across the continent (1) . One of the emerging risk factors for CVD is dysfunction of the endothelium (2,3) , which is characterised by a reduction in the bioavailability of vasodilators, predominantly NO, endothelium-derived hyperpolarizing factor and prostacyclin, and an increase in endothelium-derived vasoconstrictors, e.g. thromboxane A 2 , PGH 2 and endothelin 1 (2) . Endothelial dysfunction can be assessed by measuring enhanced and maintained endothelial activation and impaired endothelium-dependent vasodilation (4) .Endothelial activation is determined by an increase in the plasma concentrations of soluble cell adhesion molecules, such as intercellular adhesion molecule-1, vascularAbbreviations: atRA, all-trans-retinoic acid; eNOS, endothelial NO synthase; FVPD, fruit-and vegetable-puree-based drinks.

A randomised trial to investigate the effects of acute consumption of a blackcurrant juice drink on markers of vascular reactivity and bioavailability of anthocyanins in human subjects

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Effects of red orange juice intake on endothelial function and inflammatory markers in adult subjects with increased cardiovascular risk

“…Therefore, the ROJ tested in our study seemed to induce a more sustained and stable improvement of endothelial function that that of similar fruit beverages. As shown in Table 2, besides a high content of anthocyanins, the ROJ had a high content of vitamin C and carotenoids, which are all substances that might have contributed to the favorable endothelial effects observed in this study (36).…”

Cornelian Cherry (Cornus masL.) Juices as a Source of Minerals in Human Diet

“…Zinc (Zn) plays a role in hormonal activities. It is well known that deficiencies in essential elements result in various metabolic disorders (Saglam et al, 2002;Abernathy et al, 1993;George et al, 2009). Fruit and vegetables are a valuable We thank two technicians, Ewelina Gajdzik and Barbara Tatar, for help in preparation of samples for investigations.…”