engleski

Does Functional Food Provide Benefits for Cardiovascular Health? Ongoing Studies in Scientific Centre of Excellence

Objective: Functional food (FF) is a food with presumably additional health benefits beyond its nutritional effects. We have been investigating health effects of consumption of hen eggs enriched with n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (n-3PUFAs) in healthy young sedentary populations, athletes and patients with acute and chronic coronary syndrome. Hereby, summarized data are presented to provide overall conclusions on the effect of n-3 PUFAs enriched eggs consumption on microvascular function, blood biochemical markers of inflammation and serum lipid profile of these participants. Design and method: Randomized controlled clinical interventional studies were conducted on a total of 90 healthy young (sedentary or athletes) and 40 cardiovascular participants. Participants were given n-3PUFAs enriched hen eggs (app.1 g n-3PUFAs (3 pcs)/ day for 3 consecutive weeks or regular eggs ; n-3PUFAs 245 mg/day). Microvascular blood flow in response to various stimuli was assessed in skin microcirculation by laser Doppler flowmetry. Serum lipid profile, free fatty acids profile and various proinflammatory, anti- inflammatory and oxidative stress markers were measured. The study protocol and procedures conformed with the standards set by the latest revision of the Declaration of Helsinki, were approved by the Institutional Ethical Committees and registered at ClinicalTrials.gov. Results: Young healthy sedentaries on n-3 PUFAs eggs had significantly lower cholesterol and higher HDL- cholesterol after protocol. Microvascular flow was significantly increased after n-3 PUFAs consumption in sedentary and athletes. Glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and SOD activity decreased. Cardiovascular patients: LDL cholesterol and IL-6 (in Ac-CAD patients), and hsCRP and IL-1a (in all CAD patients) significantly decreased in n-3PUFAs group. GPx activity decreased, while microvascular reactivity remained unchanged. Conclusions: Consumption of FF can enhance microvascular function in healthy young participants and athletes ; this effect is not observed in cardiovascular patients. The difference probably occurred due to the duration of the dietary protocol and medications taken by cardiovascular patients. Modest anti-inflammatory effects were observed in all study groups that consumed FF. Consumption of eggs does not have adverse effects on serum lipid profile. On the contrary ; consumption of FF has a beneficial effect on the n-3 to n-6 free fatty acids ratio in serum of participants.

functional food ; cardiovascular health

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