4-Week consumption of anthocyanin-rich blood orange juice does not affect LDL-cholesterol or other biomarkers of CVD risk and glycaemia compared with standard orange juice: a randomised controlled trial

Abstract

Elevated circulating cholesterol levels are a risk factor for CVD which is also associated with sub-optimal vascular function. There is emerging evidence that anthocyanins can cause beneficial cardio-protective effects by favourably modulating lipoprotein profiles. We compared the effects of blood orange juice which is rich in anthocyanins and blonde orange juice without anthocyanins on LDL-cholesterol and other biomarkers of CVD risk, vascular function and glycaemia. In all, forty-one participants (aged 25-84 years) with a waist circumference >94 cm (men) and >80 cm (women) completed a randomised, open label, two-arm cross-over trial. For 28 d participants ingested (i) 500 ml blood orange juice providing 50 mg anthocyanins/d and (ii) 500 ml blonde orange juice without anthocyanins. There was a minimum 3-week washout period between treatments. LDL-cholesterol and other biomarkers associated with CVD risk and glycaemia were assessed at the start and end of each treatment period. No significant differences were observed in total, HDL- and LDL-cholesterol, TAG, glucose, fructosamine, nitric oxide, C-reactive protein, aortic systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure or carotid-femoral and brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity after 28 d ingestion of blood orange juice compared with standard orange juice. The lack of effect on LDL-cholesterol may be due to the modest concentration of anthocyanins in the blood orange juice.

Effects of chronic consumption of specific fruit (berries, citrus and cherries) on CVD risk factors: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials

“…Forty-five studies were included in this systematic review, of which 18 were crossover randomised controlled trials (RCT) [27,[33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48][49], and 27 were parallel RCTs [26,28, (see Table 3). The sample size of both experimental and control group in the interventions ranged from 5 to 63.…”

Anthocyanins: A Comprehensive Review of Their Chemical Properties and Health Effects on Cardiovascular and Neurodegenerative Diseases

“…Regarding anthocyanins’ effects on lipid profile, there are different results among clinical trials. Some report that consumption of anthocyanins does not produce favorable effects on lipoprotein concentrations of healthy subjects, as observed from the results that suggested that daily consumption of anthocyanins derived from blood orange juice for one month did not reduce LDL cholesterol nor any biomarkers associated with vascular function and CVD risk [ 222 , 223 ]. In addition, short-term (2 weeks) supplementation with cranberry juice in a group of young, healthy volunteers did not influence several biomarkers of blood lipid profile (TC, HDL and LDL) [ 224 ].…”

Phenolic Compounds Exerting Lipid-Regulatory, Anti-Inflammatory and Epigenetic Effects as Complementary Treatments in Cardiovascular Diseases

“…These structures are not degraded in the stomach, can enter liver cells, but their benefic effects remain to be demonstrated by in vivo studies [292]. Anthocyanines/anthocyanidines and their metabolites ameliorate endothelial dysfunction and diminish the CVD risk [273]. Anthocyanins and flavonoids from bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus) alcoholic extract can reduce the lipid deposits from the artery wall by inducing the cholesterol efflux from lipid-loaded macrophages through a mechanism involving increased secretion of apoE and CETP [274].…”