Influence of long-term consumption of bitter apricot seeds on risk factors for cardiovascular diseases

Abstract

The present study was designed to reveal whether long-term consumption of bitter apricot seeds causes changes in lipid profile and other risk factors for cardiovascular diseases. The study group consisted of 12 healthy adult volunteers (5 females and 7 males). The average age of women was 41.60 ± 11.28 years and the average age of men was 36.71 ± 13.70 years. Volunteers consumed 60 mg kg of body weight of bitter apricot seeds divided into 8-12 doses daily for 12 weeks. Volunteers were recruited from the general population of Slovak Republic. After 12 weeks, mean body weight of the participants increased from 77.34 to 78.22 kg (P > 0.05). The average total cholesterol levels decreased from 4.86 mmol L at the beginning of the study to 4.44 mmol L at the end of the study (P < 0.05). We did not observe any significant increase in high-density cholesterol (from 1.55 to 1.60 mmol L). The average low-density cholesterol levels decreased from 2.93 mmol L at the beginning of the study to 2.31 mmol L at the end of the study (P < 0.001). Concentration of triglycerides increased significantly over the 12-week intervention period from 0.84 to 1.17 mmol L. After the intervention, the high-sensitivity C-reactive protein level decreased from 1.92 to 1.23 mg L, but results were non-significant (P > 0.05). Creatine kinase serum levels increased from 2.31 to 2.77 mg L (P > 0.05) over the 12-week intervention period. The results suggest that regular intake of bitter apricot seeds may be considered potentially useful for prevention of cardiovascular diseases.

Long‐term peroral administration of bitter apricot seeds influences cortical bone microstructure of rabbits

“…taste into sweet, semi-bitter and bitter cultivars Kopčeková et al, 2018). taste into sweet, semi-bitter and bitter cultivars Kopčeková et al, 2018).…”

“…In general, the consumption of apricot seeds is limited because of various levels of the cyanogenic glycoside amygdalin (Miller, Anderson, & Stoewsand, 1981;Kolesárová et al, 2017;Tatli, Eyüpoğlu, & Hocagil, 2017). Amygdalin content in bitter apricot seeds has been reported to be approximately 3 or 4 % by weight (Hayta & Alpaslan, 2011), and amygdalin may even rise up to 8 % in these seeds (Kopčeková et al, 2018). Amygdalin is hydrolyzed in the process of digestion releasing two molecules of glucose, one molecule of benzaldehyde and one molecule of toxic hydrogen cyanide (HCN; Yiğit, Yiğit, & Mavi, 2009;Lee et al, 2014).…”

The Effect of Apricot Seeds on Microscopic Structure of Rabbit Liver

“…Amygdalin is one of the main biologically active substances present in apricot seeds, hot almonds, flax seeds, and others (Tanwar et al, 2019). The effect of AMG present in apricot seeds has been partially described in our previous studies using the porcine model (Halenar et al, 2015), rabbits (Halenar et al, 2017;Kolesar et al, 2018;Kovacikova et al, 2019) and humans (Kopčeková et al, 2018;Kovacikova et al, 2017). The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of apricot seeds on microscopic characteristics of rabbit liver in vivo.…”

Potential toxicity of cyanogenic glycoside amygdalin and bitter apricot seed in rabbits—Health status evaluation

“…Results of our previous apricot seeds/amygdalin studies described variety of effects, for example, small weight loss in humans after daily consumption of bitter apricot seeds (Kopčeková et al, ), significant decreasing effect on total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol levels in humans after 12 weeks of consumption (Kopčeková et al, ), effect on mineral management of the human body (Tušimová, Kováčik et al, ; Tušimová, Zbyňovská et al, ), potential impact on steroidogenesis in porcine granulose cells in vitro (Halenár, Medveďová, Maruniaková, & Kolesárová, ), but no effect on endocrine regulators in vivo (Halenár et al, ) and a slight increase in renal parenchyma dystrophy of rabbits fed apricot seeds (Kolesárová et al, ).…”