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2024
Increasing Your Antioxidant Intake Could Lower Atherosclerosis Marker

Increasing Your Antioxidant Intake Could Lower Atherosclerosis Marker

Not sure what to have for lunch? If arterial plaque is on your radar, a Mediterranean diet-style salad tossed with extra virgin olive oil may be a better choice than other lower-fat options, suggests a study in the January 2024 issue of Free Radical Biology and Medicine.

Analysis of 805 patients with coronary heart disease who were participants in the Coronary Diet Intervention with Olive Oil and Cardiovascular Prevention (CORDIOPREV) clinical trial revealed a link between higher antioxidant consumption and less narrowing of the common carotid arteries, which provides blood to the head, neck and brain. Plaque deposits are responsible for the narrowing of arteries and are an indicator of atherosclerosis.¹

The CORDIOPREV study was created to compare the effects of a Mediterranean diet—which is notably high in antioxidants given its emphasis on fruits, vegetables and other plants—to a low-fat diet in the prevention of cardiovascular events such as heart attacks.

Researchers looked at how much of each of the following antioxidants participants reported consuming:

Vitamin A
Carotenoids
Vitamin C
Vitamin E
Selenium
Zinc

These values were used to calculate the participants’ Dietary Antioxidant Index (DAI) scores, which measure the overall antioxidant capacity of diets. Meanwhile, ultrasounds of the common carotid arteries measured thickness of the intima-media, the innermost lining of the arteries, at the beginning and end of the study.

After five years of consuming the diets, average Dietary Antioxidant Index scores improved among participants who were assigned to a Mediterranean diet while declining among those who consumed a low-fat diet. Those whose increase in Dietary Antioxidant Index scores was among the highest of all participants experienced the greatest five-year decrease in common carotid artery intima-media thickness, which indicates less plaque accumulation.

“The present study findings indicate that after five years of dietary intervention, an improvement in DAI was associated with a long-term (5 years) reduction in intima-media thickness of the common carotids in patients with CHD,” authors Lorenzo Rivas-Garcia and colleagues concluded.

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Apply What You’ve Learned: Atherosclerosis

Atherosclerosis is generally characterized by the buildup of plaque within the arteries, which causes them to narrow. This impairs the delivery of oxygen and nutrients to areas served by these arteries. Plaque buildup in one or more coronary arteries that supply blood to the heart occurs in coronary artery disease.
Cerebrovascular disease can include narrowing of the carotid or vertebral arteries that supply blood to the brain, bleeding in the brain, stroke and other conditions.
A carotid intima-media thickness test uses ultrasound to measure the thickness of the two inner layers of the walls of the carotid arteries—a set of vessels that supply blood to the head and brain. A thicker intima-media is a marker of atherosclerosis and may help predict cerebrovascular and cardiovascular events.²
Being overweight, consuming an unhealthy diet, insufficient physical activity and smoking are lifestyle factors that increase the risk of atherosclerosis.^3-6 These risk factors are all modifiable.
Research suggests that resveratrol, lipoic acid, Ginkgo biloba, Centella asiatica (gotu kola) and Pycnogenol® from French maritime pine bark may help reduce the progression of atherosclerotic plaque.^7-10

References

Rivas-Garcia L et al. Free Radic Biol Med. 2023 Nov 29;210:221-229.
Nezu T et al. J Atheroscler Thromb. 2016;23(1):18-31.
Lovren F et al. Can J Cardiol. 2015 Feb;31(2):177-83.
Torres N et al. Arch Med Res. 2015 Jul;46(5):408-26.
Mehanna E et al. Curr Atheroscler Rep. 2016 May;18(5):26.
Siasos G et al. Curr Med Chem. 2014;21(34):3936-48.
Berbée JFP et al. J Nutr Biochem. 2013 Aug;24(8):1423-30.
Ying Z et al. Life Sci. 2010 Jan 16;86(3-4):95-102.
Rodríguez M et al. Atherosclerosis. 2007 Jun;192(2):438-44.
Belcaro G et al. Minerva Cardioangiol. 2017 Feb;65(1):24-31.

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