Major study backs carotenoids' protective effects on heart

[Guest guest]

http://nutraingredients-usa.com/news/news-NG.asp?n=52790-major-study-backs

 

Major study backs carotenoids' protective effects on heart

 

6/14/2004 - Further evidence to support the inclusion of carotenoids

in food formulations comes from the US with a new study showing that

high blood levels of carotenoids, a family of disease-beating

antioxidants found in fruits and vegetables, might reduce the risk of

the most common type of stroke, ischaemic.

 

Fruit and vegetable intake has long been associated with a lower risk

of ischaemic stroke, said study author Jing Ma, assistant professor of

medicine, at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School,

Boston. But the scientists set out to investigate which antioxidants

in fruits and vegetables might have this positive effect.

 

A recent report on the $348.5 million (€291.4m) carotenoid market from

market analysts Frost & Sullivan revealed that the European food and

health industry has `under-utilised' the nutraceutical properties of

carotenoids, and consumers are still unaware of their health benefits.

 

Frost & Sullivan claims that carotenoids are still used primarily as a

colouring agent for the food and feed industries. Consumers in most

European regions are unaware of their use as a food fortifier and this

poor level of public awareness about the health benefits of

carotenoids is expected to stifle market growth in the short term.

 

Currently, the European carotenoid market is forecast to grow to

€349.3 million in 2010.

 

The Physicians' Health Study involved 22,071 US male doctors, 68 per

cent of whom provided blood samples at the start of the study in 1982.

Among the 15,000 who did not have cardiovascular disease at the

beginning of the study, 297 had an ischaemic stroke during the study's

13-year follow-up.

 

The team analysed blood samples from stroke patients and controls, to

determine the concentration of antioxidants including carotenoids

(alpha-carotene, beta-carotene, lycopene, lutein and

beta-cryptoxanthin). They found that the men in the bottom 20 per cent

of carotenoid levels based on alpha-carotene, beta-carotene and

lycopene content had a 40 per cent higher risk of ischaemic stroke.

 

Once carotenoid concentrations rose above those in the bottom 20 per

cent, progressively higher levels of carotenoids were not associated

with increased protection. But the findings are not clear as to

whether these carotenoids give fruit and vegetables their protective

effects or if they are simply markers of the protective effects of

fruit and vegetable intake.

 

" The carotenoid level could have been the result of these men eating

fruits and vegetables or taking antioxidant supplements. The

observational study shows an association between fruit and vegetable

intake and stroke risk, but did not prove that eating fruits and

vegetables caused the lower risk, " the researchers note.

 

Despite this, Ma commented that the results of this study " support a

diet high in fruits and vegetables to reduce ischaemic stroke risk " .

 

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), an estimated 17

million people worldwide die from cardiovascular diseases,

particularly heart attacks and strokes, every year. Poor diet, smoking

and physical inactivity are all possible risk factors in raising the

risk of heart disease, a risk that increases with age and is greater

for women than for men.

 

Full findings are published in the recent rapid access issue of

Stroke, a publication of the American Heart Association.