Vegetable juice can lower incidence of cardiovascular disease

Dietary factors play an important role in the development and progression of cardiovascular disease, and dietary optimization must be considered an important lifestyle intervention for the management of existing cardiovascular disease and its prevention. Thousands of biologically active phytochemicals have been identified in plant foods, eg, grains, nuts, legumes, vegetables, and fruit. Of these plant food groups; vegetables and fruit are the most botanically diverse.

Vegetable juices show a very complex composition with several hundred substances vegetable juices are characterized by a large number of secondary plant metabolites (also known as “phytochemicals”). The two most prominent groups are the polyphenols including the colorful anthocyanins, and the carotenoids.

Drinking vegetable juices is very popular in many countries, and also an efficient way to improve consumption of vegetables. The studies showed that vegetable juices affect cardiovascular risk factors, such as lowering blood pressure and improving blood lipid profiles. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the United States. Many risk factors for cardiovascular disease, including high blood cholesterol, hypertension, obesity, and diabetes are substantially influenced by dietary factors.

The main mechanisms of action included antioxidant effects, improvement of the aspects of the cardiovascular system, inhibition of platelet aggregation, anti-inflammatory effects, and prevention of hyperhomocysteinemia.

The protective mechanisms of vegetables may include some of the known bioactive nutrient effects dependent on their antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and electrolyte properties, but also include their functional properties, such as low glycemic load and energy density. Taken together, the totality of the evidence accumulated so far does appear to support the notion that increased intake of vegetables may reduce cardiovascular risk. It is clear that vegetables should be eaten as part of a balanced diet, as a source of vitamins, fiber, minerals and phytochemicals.

Oxidative damage can result when the critical balance between free radical generation and antioxidant defenses is unfavorable. It has been hypothesized to play a key role in cardiovascular disease and other diseases. The antioxidant defense system has both enzymatic and nonenzymatic components that prevent radical formation, remove radicals before damage can occur, repair oxidative damage, eliminate damaged molecules, and prevent mutations. Several of the antioxidant enzymes are metalloenzymes, which contain trace minerals for which vegetables and fruit are significant sources.
Vegetable juice can lower incidence of cardiovascular disease

A Daily Dose Of Beetroot Juice Can Beat High Blood Pressure

A Daily Dose Of Beetroot Juice Can Beat High Blood Pressure
Researchers at Barts and The London School of Medicine have discovered that drinking just 500ml of beetroot juice a day can significantly reduce blood pressure. The study, published online in the American Heart Association journal Hypertension, could have major implications for the treatment of cardiovascular disease.

Lead by Professor Amrita Ahluwalia of the William Harvey Research Institute at Barts and The London School of Medicine, and Professor Ben Benjamin of Peninsula Medical School, the research reveals that it is the ingestion of dietary nitrate contained within beetroot juice - and similarly in green, leafy vegetables - which results ultimately in decreased blood pressure. Previously the protective effects of vegetable-rich diets had been attributed to their antioxidant vitamin content.

Professor Ahluwalia and her team found that in healthy volunteers blood pressure was reduced within just 1 hour of ingesting beetroot juice, with a peak drop occurring 3-4 hours after ingestion. Some degree of reduction continued to be observed until up to 24 hours after ingestion. Researchers showed that the decrease in blood pressure was due to the chemical formation of nitrite from the dietary nitrate in the juice. The nitrate in the juice is converted in saliva, by bacteria on the tongue, into nitrite. This nitrite-containing saliva is swallowed, and in the acidic environment of the stomach is either converted into nitric oxide or re-enters the circulation as nitrite. The peak time of reduction in blood pressure correlated with the appearance and peak levels of nitrite in the circulation, an effect that was absent in a second group of volunteers who refrained from swallowing their saliva during, and for 3 hours following, beetroot ingestion.

More than 25 per cent of the world's adult population are hypertensive, and it has been estimated that this figure will increase to 29 per cent by 2025. In addition, hypertension causes around 50 per cent of coronary heart disease, and approximately 75 per cent of strokes. In demonstrating that nitrate is likely to underlie the cardio-protective effect of a vegetable-rich diet, the research of Professor Ahluwalia and her colleagues highlights the potential of a natural, low cost approach for the treatment of cardiovascular disease - a condition that kills over 110,000 people in England every year.

Professor Ahluwalia said: " Our research suggests that drinking beetroot juice, or consuming other nitrate-rich vegetables, might be a simple way to maintain a healthy cardiovascular system, and might also be an additional approach that one could take in the modern day battle against rising blood pressure'.
A Daily Dose Of Beetroot Juice Can Beat High Blood Pressure
Source: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com