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BackgroundThe Mediterranean diet is a healthy diet with positive scientific evidence of preventing chronic diseases. Bioactive components support the healthy properties of the Mediterranean diet. Antioxidants and fiber, two components of the Mediterranean diet, are key functional nutrients for healthy eating and nutrition. Wine grape pomace is a rich source of these dietary constituents and may be beneficial for human health. Our hypothesis was that the intake of red wine grape pomace flour (WGPF) prepared from red wine grapes (Cabernet Sauvignon variety) reduced the metabolic syndrome in humans. To evaluate the effect of WGPF on components of metabolic syndrome we design a 16-week longitudinal intervention study. Thirty-eight males, 30–65 years of age, with at least one component of metabolic syndrome, were randomly assigned to either the intervention group (n = 25) or the control group (n = 13). At lunch, the intervention group was given 20 g of WGPF per day, which contained 10 g of dietary fiber, 822 mg of polyphenols and an antioxidant capacity of 7258 ORAC units. Both groups were asked to maintain their regular eating habits and lifestyles. Clinical evaluation, anthropometric measurements and biochemical blood analyses were done at the beginning and the end of the study.ResultsWGPF intake significantly decreased systolic and diastolic blood pressure as well as fasting glucose levels. Plasma γ-tocopherol and δ-tocopherol increased and carbonyl group in plasma protein decreased in WGPT group, significantly. No significant effect was observed for waist circumference, HDL cholesterol, triglycerides, total antioxidant capacity and vitamin C in and between groups. The group-dependent magnitude of the differences between the baseline and final postprandial insulin values and γ-tocopherol concentrations was statistically significant.ConclusionsThe consumption of WGPF-rich in fiber and polyphenol antioxidants, as a food supplement in a regular diet improves blood pressure, glycaemia and postprandial insulin. In addition, increased antioxidant defenses and decreased oxidative protein damage indicating attenuation of oxidative stress. WGPF might be a useful food ingredient for health promotion and chronic disease prevention.

Objective: To evaluate the feasibility of diet mediterranisation, in a food-at-work context, and its consequence on metabolic syndrome in a mid-age unselected healthy male population group. Design: One-year longitudinal intervention study. Physical exercise was not modified. Setting: All workers of the Santiago division of 'Maestranza Diesel', a metalmechanic company servicing the mining industry, were invited to participate. Subjects: Initially, 145 workers of a total of 171, of average age 39 years, accepted to participate (sixteen women and 129 men). A subgroup of ninety-six men fully completed the controls programmed for the intervention study. Losses from the original group correspond to missing one control (sixteen), leaving the company (eleven) or blood sampling discomfort (six). The women and sixteen male workers, hired post study initiation, did participate but were excluded from this 12-month analysis. Results: Diet mediterranisation was successful, reflected in the daily food consumption at the canteen and the evolution of the Mediterranean diet score (MDS) from 4?8 6 1?4 to 7?4 6 1?5 (limits 0-14). Some metabolic syndrome components showed statistically significant improvement and also statistically significant correlation with the MDS: waist circumference, HDL-cholesterol, systolic and diastolic blood pressure. After 12 months, the reversion rate for metabolic syndrome was 48 % (12/23) with an incidence rate of 4?1 % for new cases (3/73). In total, metabolic syndrome decreased from 24?0 % to 15?6 % (23/96 to 15/96) (P 5 0?029). Conclusions: Diet mediterranisation is feasible in a food-at-work intervention, affecting lunch consumption at the workers canteen and overall consumption evaluated with MDS, together with a significant reduction in metabolic syndrome.

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This study formulated and characterized an antioxidant-rich concentrate of berries (BPC-350) produced in Chile, which was used to perform a crossover study aimed at determining the effect of the berries on the modulation of plasma postprandial oxidative stress and antioxidant status. Healthy male volunteers (N = 11) were randomly assigned to three experimental meals: (1) 250 g of ground turkey burger (GTB) + 500 mL of water; (2) 250 g of GTB + 500 mL of 5% BPC-350; (3) 250 g of GTB prepared with 6% BPC-350 + 500 mL of 5% BPC-350. Venous blood samples were collected prior to meal intake and every hour for six hours after intake. Malondialdehyde (MDA), carbonyls in proteins, and DPPH (2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl) antioxidant capacity were quantified in plasma. Significant differences indicated that BPC-350 decreases MDA plasma concentration and protein carbonyls (p < 0.05). Additionally, a significant increase in the DPPH antioxidant capacity was observed in Meals 2 and 3 when compared to Meal 1 (p < 0.05). The results are discussed in terms of oxidative reactions that occur during digestion at the stomach level and the important effect of oxidative reactions that occur during the thermal processing of red meat.

Oxidative stress is a central mechanism for the pathogenesis of ischemic heart disease and atherogenesis, for cancer and other chronic diseases in general, and it also plays a major role in the aging process. Dietary antioxidants constitute a large group of compounds that differ in mechanism of action, bioavailability and side effects. A systematic analysis of the role of the various antioxidants in chronic diseases is hampered by the difficulty of employing death or clinical events as end points in intervention studies. Therefore, valid markers for oxidative stress, which show dose response and are sensitive to changes in dietary supply of antioxidants, are potentially of great value when trying to establish healthy dietary patterns, or when one component, like red wine, is evaluated specifically. To evaluate potential oxidative stress markers we have studied the effect of different diets plus wine supplementation on antioxidant defenses and oxidative damage. In three experimental series, four groups of young male university students, one of older men and other of older women, 20-24 volunteers each, received Mediterranean or occidental (high-fat) diets alone or supplemented with red wine, white wine, or fruits and vegetables. Measurements included, leukocyte DNA 8-OH-deoxyguanosine (8OHdG), plasma 7 beta-hydroxycholesterol, TBARS and well-characterized antioxidants, and plasma and urine polyphenol antioxidants. In all experimental groups that received red wine, consumption resulted in marked decrease in 8OHdG. The changes observed in 8OHdG correlate positively with the other markers of oxidative damage, and shows a clear inverse correlation with the plasma level of well established antioxidants and with measurements of total antioxidant capacity. Urinary total polyphenol content as well as the sum of some specific plasma species also correlate inversely with 8OHdG. In conclusion, the results identify 8OHdG as a very promising general marker of oxidative stress in nutrition intervention studies in humans, and red wine shows a remarkable protective effect.

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The positive health effects derived from moderate wine consumption are pleiotropic. They appear as improvements in cardiovascular risk factors such as plasma lipids, haemostatic mechanisms, endothelial function and antioxidant defences. The active principles would be ethanol and mainly polyphenols. Results from our and other laboratories support the unifying hypothesis that the improvements in risk factors after red wine consumption are mediated by endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS). Many genes are involved, but the participation of eNOS would be a constant feature. The metabolic syndrome is a cluster of metabolic risk factors associated with high risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). The National Cholesterol Education Programmmes Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEPATP III) clinical definition of the metabolic syndrome requires the presence of at least three risk factors, from among abdominal obesity, high plasma triacylglycerols, low plasma HDL, high blood pressure and high fasting plasma glucose. The molecular mechanisms responsible for the metabolic syndrome are not known. Since metabolic syndrome apparently affects 10-30% of the population in the world, research on its pathogenesis and control is needed. The recent finding that eNOS knockout mice present a cluster of cardiovascular risk factors comparable to those of the metabolic syndrome suggests that defects in eNOS function may cause human metabolic syndrome. These mice are hypertensive, insulin resistant and dyslipidemic. Further support for a pathogenic role of eNOS comes from the finding in humans that eNOS polymorphisms associate with insulin resistance and diabetes, with hypertension, with inflammatory and oxidative stress markers and with albuminuria. So, the data sustain the hypothesis that eNOS enhancement should reduce metabolic syndrome incidence and its consequences. Therefore red wine, since it enhances eNOS function, should be considered as a potential tool for the control of metabolic syndrome. This hypothesis is supported by epidemiological observations and needs experimental validation in human intervention studies.