Reduced levels of potential circulating biomarkers of cardiovascular diseases in apparently healthy vegetarian men

Abstract

A vegetarian diet is associated with a healthier profile of cardiovascular biomarkers compared to omnivorous.

Quercetin decreases the activity of matrix metalloproteinase-2 and ameliorates vascular remodeling in renovascular hypertension

“…Different from tempol, quercetin is obtained from diet and its use offers an important benefit to treat cardiovascular diseases. In fact, a vegetarian diet significantly contributed to have lower MMP-2 plasma levels and myeloperoxidase when compared to an omnivorous diet, in humans [31]. As reported before [36], the dose of quercetin used to treat rats in this study is normally higher than the daily one ingested by omnivorous humans.…”

“…Quercetin also decreased the accentuated activity of MMP-2 in a mouse aorta with aneurysm [29] and in the heart of doxorubicin-treated rats, thus recovering cardiac function during post-ischemia [30]. Reduced levels of MMP-2 and others circulating biomarkers of cardiovascular diseases were also observed in plasma of healthy vegetarian men [31], which suggest that a diet rich in polyphenols may help to prevent from cardiovascular diseases. Although studies have investigated the effects of quercetin in ameliorating vascular dysfunction in hypertension, none investigated whether quercetin reduces VSMC proliferation and vascular remodeling or MMP activity.…”

Plant‐based eating patterns and endurance performance: A focus on inflammation, oxidative stress and immune responses

“…Due to the high intake of some key nutrients and phytochemicals in groups following plant‐based diets, it is plausible that a difference in immune status may be observed between plant‐based and non‐plant‐based dietary patterns. Although few studies have explored this notion, some studies have demonstrated lowered leukocytes (Dong & Scott 1982; Haddad et al 1999; Pongstaporn & Bunyaratavej 1999; Wu et al 2011; Navarro et al 2016), lowered lymphocytes (Tungtrongchitr et al 1993; Haddad et al 1999; Obeid et al 2002), lowered neutrophils (Navarro et al 2016) and lowered compliment factor 3 (CF3) (Haddad et al 1999) in those following plant‐based dietary patterns. Furthermore, NK cell activity of peripheral blood lymphocytes has been shown to be elevated in plant‐based populations compared to non‐plant‐based populations (Malter et al 1989) while others have found no difference in NK cell activity (Richter et al 1991; Haddad et al 1999).…”

“…It is plausible that due to the variations in nutrient concentrations between plant‐based and non‐plant‐based dietary patterns, plant‐based dietary patterns may favourably modulate immune function in endurance exercise (Malter et al 1989; Navarro et al 2016; Zhang et al 2018). It is recognised that high intensity and endurance exercise can cause immunosuppression in which there is an ‘open window’ where pathogens have an increased likelihood of invading a host (Peake et al 2016).…”

Matrix metalloproteinase in the cardiovascular remodeling of hypertension: current insights and therapeutic potential

“…88 A vegetarian diet was also associated with reduced plasma levels of MMP-2 and MMP-9 in healthy human patients, thus suggesting that a diet rich in flavonols may decrease the risk of developing cardiovascular diseases by reducing MMP. 89 Doxycycline also had antioxidant properties when used in 2K-1C rats, and this effect may improve its capacity to reduce MMP activity and expression. Doxycycline ameliorated aortic endothelial dysfunction, decreased oxidative stress and MMP-2 activity, and increased nitric oxide bioavailability in 2K-1C rats.…”