Daily coffee may benefit the heart - Drinking two to three cups a day - greatest heart benefits

Drinking coffee—particularly two to three cups a day—is not only associated with a lower risk of heart disease and dangerous heart rhythms but also with living longer, according to studies being presented at the American College of Cardiology’s 71st Annual Scientific Session. These trends held true for both people with and without cardiovascular disease. Researchers said the analyses—the largest to look at coffee’s potential role in heart disease and death—provide reassurance that coffee isn’t tied to new or worsening heart disease and may actually be heart protective.

“Because coffee can quicken heart rate, some people worry that drinking it could trigger or worsen certain heart issues. This is where general medical advice to stop drinking coffee may come from. But our data suggest that daily coffee intake shouldn’t be discouraged, but rather included as a part of a healthy diet for people with and without heart disease,” said Peter M. Kistler, MD, professor and head of arrhythmia research at the Alfred Hospital and Baker Heart Institute in Melbourne, Australia, and the study’s senior author. “We found coffee drinking had either a neutral effect—meaning that it did no harm—or was associated with benefits to heart health.”

Kistler and his team used data from the UK BioBank, a large-scale prospective database with health information from over half a million people who were followed for at least 10 years. Researchers looked at varying levels of coffee consumption ranging from up to a cup to more than six cups a day and the relationship with heart rhythm problems (arrhythmias); cardiovascular disease, including coronary artery disease, heart failure and stroke; and total and heart-related deaths among people both with and without cardiovascular disease. Patients were grouped by how much coffee they reported drinking each day: 0, <1, 1, 2-3, 4-5, >5 cups/day. Coffee drinking was assessed from questionnaires completed upon entry into the registry. Overall, they either found no effect or, in many cases, significant reductions in cardiovascular risk after controlling for exercise, alcohol, smoking, diabetes and high blood pressure that could also play a role in heart health and longevity.

For the first study, researchers examined data from 382,535 individuals without known heart disease to see whether coffee drinking played a role in the development of heart disease or stroke during the 10 years of follow up. Participants’ average age was 57 years and half were women. In general, having two to three cups of coffee a day was associated with the greatest benefit, translating to a 10%-15% lower risk of developing coronary heart disease, heart failure, a heart rhythm problem, or dying for any reason. The risk of stroke or heart-related death was lowest among people who drank one cup of coffee a day. Researchers did observe a U-shaped relationship with coffee intake and new heart rhythm problems. The maximum benefit was seen among people drinking two to three cups of coffee a day with less benefit seen among those drinking more or less.

The second study included 34,279 individuals who had some form of cardiovascular disease at baseline. Coffee intake at two to three cups a day was associated with lower odds of dying compared with having no coffee. Importantly, consuming any amount of coffee was not associated with a higher risk of heart rhythm problems, including atrial fibrillation (AFib) or atrial flutter, which Kistler said is often what clinicians are concerned about. Of the 24,111 people included in the analysis who had an arrhythmia at baseline, drinking coffee was associated with a lower risk of death. For example, people with AFib who drank one cup of coffee a day were nearly 20% less likely to die than non-coffee drinkers.

“Clinicians generally have some apprehension about people with known cardiovascular disease or arrhythmias continuing to drink coffee, so they often err on the side of caution and advise them to stop drinking it altogether due to fears that it may trigger dangerous heart rhythms,” Kistler said. “But our study shows that regular coffee intake is safe and could be part of a healthy diet for people with heart disease.”

Although two to three cups of coffee a day seemed to be the most favorable overall, Kistler said that people shouldn’t increase their coffee intake, particularly if it makes them feel anxious or uncomfortable.

“There is a whole range of mechanisms through which coffee may reduce mortality and have these favorable effects on cardiovascular disease,” he said. “Coffee drinkers should feel reassured that they can continue to enjoy coffee even if they have heart disease. Coffee is the most common cognitive enhancer—it wakes you up, makes you mentally sharper and it’s a very important component of many people’s daily lives.”

So how might coffee beans benefit the heart? People often equate coffee with caffeine, but coffee beans actually have over 100 biologically active compounds. These substances can help reduce oxidative stress and inflammation, improve insulin sensitivity, boost metabolism, inhibit the gut’s absorption of fat and block receptors known to be involved with abnormal heart rhythms, Kistler said.

In a third study, researchers looked at whether there were any differences in the relationship between coffee and cardiovascular disease depending on whether someone drank instant or ground coffee or caffeinated or decaf. They found, once again, two to three cups a day to be associated with the lowest risk of arrhythmias, blockages in the heart’s arteries, stroke or heart failure regardless of whether they had ground or instant coffee. Lower rates of death were seen across all coffee types. Decaf coffee did not have favorable effects against incident arrhythmia but did reduce cardiovascular disease, with the exception of heart failure. Kistler said the findings suggest caffeinated coffee is preferable across the board, and there are no cardiovascular benefits to choosing decaf over caffeinated coffees.

There are several important limitations to these studies. Researchers were unable to control for dietary factors that may play a role in cardiovascular disease, nor were they able to adjust for any creamers, milk or sugar consumed. Participants were predominantly white, so additional studies are needed to determine whether these findings extend to other populations. Finally, coffee intake was based on self-report via a questionnaire fielded at study entry. This should be considered when interpreting the study findings, though Kistler noted that research suggests people’s dietary habits don’t change much in adulthood or over time. Kistler said the results should be validated in randomized trials.

Exercise holds even more heart health benefits for people with stress-related conditions

Study underscores the brain’s role in deriving cardiovascular benefits from physical activity

Regular physical activity had nearly doubled the cardiovascular benefit in individuals with depression or anxiety, compared with individuals without these diagnoses, according to a study presented at the American College of Cardiology’s 71st Annual Scientific Session.

The research findings add to mounting evidence that exercise improves cardiovascular health by helping to activate parts of the brain that counteract stress. Overall, the study found that people who achieved the recommended amount of physical activity per week were 17% less likely to suffer a major adverse cardiovascular event than those who exercised less. These benefits were significantly greater in those with anxiety or depression, who had a 22% risk reduction vs. a 10% risk reduction in those without either condition.

“The effect of physical activity on the brain’s stress response may be particularly relevant in those with stress-related psychiatric conditions,” said Hadil Zureigat, MD, postdoctoral clinical research fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital and the study’s lead author. “This is not to suggest that exercise is only effective in those with depression or anxiety, but we found that these patients seem to derive a greater cardiovascular benefit from physical activity.”

Rates of both depression and anxiety have risen during the COVID-19 pandemic, and heart disease remains the leading cause of death in the U.S. The study findings underscore the important role of exercise in maintaining heart health and reducing stress, according to the researchers.

For the study, researchers analyzed health records of more than 50,000 patients in the Massachusetts General Brigham Biobank database. Just over 4,000 of the patients had suffered a major adverse cardiovascular event, which included experiencing a heart attack, having chest pain caused by a blocked artery or undergoing a procedure to open a blocked artery in the heart.

Researchers first assessed the rates of major coronary events among patients who reported in a questionnaire that they exercise at least 500 metabolic equivalent (MET) minutes per week—aligning with the ACC and American Heart Association primary prevention guidelinerecommendation of at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity exercise per week—with those who exercise less. MET-minutes are a unit of exercise that represents the amount of energy expended during various activities. The analysis revealed that people who got at least 500 MET-minutes or more per week were 17% less likely to suffer an adverse cardiovascular event.

They then analyzed how this pattern played out among patients who had a diagnosis of depression or anxiety compared with those who did not have depression or anxiety. This second analysis revealed that patients with depression derived more than double the benefit from exercise in terms of reduced cardiovascular risk compared with people who did not have depression. A similar benefit of exercise was found for patients with anxiety.

The research expands upon previous studies by the research team that used brain imaging to determine how exercise improves cardiovascular health by helping to keep the brain’s stress response in check. Individuals with depression or anxiety have higher stress-related neural activity and a higher risk of cardiovascular disease.

“When one thinks about physical activity decreasing cardiovascular risk, one doesn’t usually think of the brain,” Zureigat said. “Our research emphasizes the importance of the stress-related neural mechanisms by which physical activity acts to reduce cardiovascular risk.”

Even though the study used 500 MET-minutes as a cutoff for the analysis, researchers noted that previous studies show people can reduce their heart disease risk even if they do not achieve the recommended amount of physical activity. Even a little bit of regular physical activity can make a difference in terms of cardiovascular risk.

“Any amount of exercise is helpful, particularly for those with depression or anxiety,” Zureigat said. “Not only will physical activity help them feel better, but they will also potently reduce their risk of cardiovascular disease. It can be hard to make the transition, but once achieved, physical activity allows those with these common chronic stress-related psychiatric conditions to hit two birds with one stone.”

For more information on active and mindful living to prevent or manage heart disease, visit CardioSmart.org/assets/infographic/active-and-mindful-living.

Study suggests association between consuming artificial sweeteners and increased cancer risk

 Artificial sweeteners reduce added sugar content and corresponding calories while maintaining sweetness. A study publishing March 24th in PLOS Medicine by Charlotte Debras and Mathilde Touvier at the French National Institute for Health and Medical Research (Inserm) and Sorbonne Paris Nord University, France and colleagues suggests that some artificial sweeteners are associated with increased cancer risk.

Many food products and beverages containing artificial sweeteners are consumed by millions of people daily. However, the safety of these additives has been a subject of debate. To evaluate the potential carcinogenicity of artificial sweeteners, researchers analyzed data from 102,865 French adults participating in the NutriNet-Santé study. The NutriNet-Santé study is an ongoing web-based cohort initiated in 2009 by the Nutritional Epidemiology Research Team (EREN). Participants enroll voluntarily and self-report medical history, sociodemographic, diet, lifestyle, and health data. Researchers gathered data concerning artificial sweetener intake from 24-hour dietary records. After collecting cancer diagnosis information during follow-up, the researchers conducted statistical analyses to investigate the associations between artificial sweetener intakes and cancer risk. They also adjusted for a range of variables including age, sex, education, physical activity, smoking, body mass index, height, weight-gain during follow-up, diabetes, family history of cancer, as well as baseline intakes of energy, alcohol, sodium, saturated fatty acids, fiber, sugar, whole-grain foods, and dairy products.

The researchers found that enrollees consuming larger quantities of artificial sweeteners, particularly aspartame and acesulfame-K, had higher risk of overall cancer compared to non-consumers (hazard ratio 1.13, 95% confidence interval 1.03 to 1.25). Higher risks were observed for breast cancer and obesity-related cancers.

The study had several important limitations; dietary intakes are self-reported. Selection bias may also have been a factor, as participants were more likely to be women, to have higher educational levels, and to exhibit health-conscious behaviors. The observational nature of the study also means that residual confounding is possible and reverse causality cannot be ruled out. Additional research will be required to confirm the findings and clarify the underlying mechanisms.

According to the authors, “Our findings do not support the use of artificial sweeteners as safe alternatives for sugar in foods or beverages and provide important and novel information to address the controversies about their potential adverse health effects. While these results need to be replicated in other large-scale cohorts and underlying mechanisms clarified by experimental studies, they provide important and novel insights for the ongoing re-evaluation of food additive sweeteners by the European Food Safety Authority and other health agencies globally”.

Debras adds, “Results from the NutriNet-Santé cohort (n=102,865) suggest that artificial sweeteners found in many food and beverage brands worldwide may be associated with increased cancer risk, in line with several experimental in vivo / in vitro studies. These findings provide novel information for the re-evaluation of these food additives by health agencies.”

Depression after a heart attack heightens stroke risk

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Depression can complicate and slow recovery from a heart attack, not to mention the toll it can take on one’s mental outlook, relationships and joy of life. In addition, new research finds that people who had depression following a heart attack were about 50% more likely to suffer a stroke compared with those who didn’t have depression, according to a study presented at the American College of Cardiology’s 71st Annual Scientific Session.

The study analyzed health records of nearly half a million U.S. patients post-heart attack, making it one of the largest ever to examine the relationship between depression and heart disease. Researchers found a stark difference in stroke rates between patients with and without depression who otherwise had similar health and demographic backgrounds.

“The only difference between these two cohorts is that one has depression,” said Frank H. Annie, PhD, research scientist in the Department of Cardiology at Charleston Area Medical Center in Charleston, West Virginia and the study’s lead author. “There could be a multitude of depression-related factors that are leading to these outcomes. What we’re seeing in this data is very troubling, and we need to dig deeper to understand the causes and effects.” 

The researchers used the Trinetx database to analyze the health records of 495,386 patients who suffered a heart attack between 2015-2021. Trinetx pools electronic medical record data from 58 health care systems across the U.S. into a single, cloud-based service where researchers can analyze multiple sources of data while protecting patient privacy and security. About 51,000 patients (10.5%) in total had a diagnosis of depression after their heart attack. Of those patients, about 1 in 6 had been diagnosed with a mental health disorder before their heart attack, while the others were first diagnosed with depression after their heart attack.

For the study, Annie and colleagues compared the 51,000 patients with depression to a group of other heart attack survivors in the same data set who were well-matched in terms of other characteristics but did not have depression. They found 12% of those with depression and 8.3% of those without depression subsequently suffered a stroke – a nearly 50% difference in stroke risk.

Annie said multiple factors could account for the difference. For example, having depression may interfere with a person’s ability to attend medical appointments and keep up with their medications. Depression can also interfere with sleep and concentration, making it challenging to exercise regularly and maintain a heart-healthy diet.

In this study, Annie said men were more likely to have depression than women. Those with depression also tended to have higher rates of hypertension, coronary artery disease, diabetes, heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, as well as higher body mass index and a history of smoking. However, the link between depression and subsequent stroke remained significant even after accounting for these variables. 

Previous studies have pointed to connections between depression and heart disease. While the exact cause and effect involved in this relationship remains unclear, Annie said there is mounting evidence that getting treatment for depression can help improve outcomes in those with heart disease. In this study, only 7% of the patients with depression had used antidepressants.   

“A multidisciplinary approach is required,” Annie said. “Based on these data, if there’s someone who has a history of heart disease and depression, I would advocate for devoting special attention within the health care system to making sure that these individuals are making their appointments and that they’re seeing the right providers within the health system.”

Researchers said further studies are needed to understand how depression and other factors may affect a person’s heart health and risk of stroke or other forms of heart disease.

“We do answer a few questions, but we’re raising a lot more,” Annie said.

Living near noise pollution tied to greater risk of heart attack

Study attributes 1 in 20 heart attacks in New Jersey to noise from highways, trains and air traffic

Living in a noisy environment can be annoying, but it might also harm your health. People experiencing high levels of noise from cars, trains or planes were more likely to suffer a heart attack than people living in quieter areas, according to a study presented at the American College of Cardiology’s 71st Annual Scientific Session.

“When people talk about pollution, they’re usually talking about particles in the air or water,” said Abel E. Moreyra, MD, professor of medicine in the Division of Cardiology at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and the study’s lead author. “But there are other forms of pollution, and noise pollution is one of these.”

The study analyzed heart attack rates among nearly 16,000 New Jersey residents hospitalized for a heart attack in 2018 using data from the MIDAS database, a repository of all cardiovascular hospitalizations in the state. The average daily transportation noise experienced at home was calculated using data from the state’s Bureau of Transportation Statistics.  

Patients were divided into those experiencing high levels of transportation noise (an average of 65 decibels or higher over the course of the day) and those with low noise exposure (a daily average of less than 50 decibels). A noise level of 65 decibels is similar to a loud conversation or laughter. Since noise levels were averaged over the course of the day, Moreyra said that many people may have experienced periods of relative quiet that were interrupted by louder bursts such as trucks, trains or aircraft going by.

Overall results found that 5% of hospitalizations for heart attacks were attributable to elevated high noise levels in the state. The heart attack rate was 72% higher in places with high transportation noise exposure, with these areas seeing 3,336 heart attacks per 100,000 people compared with 1,938 heart attacks per 100,000 people in quieter areas. Based on the relative rates of heart attack in different locations, the researchers calculated that high noise exposure accounted for about 1 in 20 heart attacks in the state.

The study is among the first to examine noise and heart disease in the U.S., but the findings align with several previous studies conducted in Europe. New Jersey is a state with many dense urban areas in close proximity to roadways, train lines and three major airports. Moreyra said other urban areas with similar infrastructure and transportation noise would likely see a similar pattern. 

“As cardiologists, we are used to thinking about many traditional risk factors such as smoking, hypertension or diabetes,” Moreyra said. “This study and others suggest maybe we should start thinking about air pollution and noise pollution as additional risk factors for cardiovascular disease.”

While the study did not investigate the biological mechanisms behind the association, Moreyra said noise can cause chronic stress, disturbances in sleep and emotional distress such as anxiety and depression, which could impact cardiovascular health. Chronic stress is known to cause hormonal changes linked with inflammation and changes in the blood vessels that are associated with heart disease.

Living near roadways and other transportation infrastructure also means greater exposure to vehicle exhaust and other forms of particulate air pollution. Previous studies have linked particulate air pollution with cardiovascular damage and increased rates of heart disease.

“Air pollution and noise go hand-in-hand,” Moreyra said. “The question is: how much of this effect is due to particle pollution, and how much is noise?”

Researchers are beginning to disentangle those factors, but Moreyra said further research is needed to elucidate the effects of noise pollution on heart health.

The researchers did not attempt to account for demographic, socioeconomic or other health risk factors in their analysis, and they suggest further research could help tease apart the effect of noise pollution from these other factors. In addition, Moreyra said the study did not account for noise exposure at work or other locations. As a next step, the team plans to examine the data in more detail for insights into which sources of transportation noise may have the greatest health impact.

Moreyra said that a variety of policy interventions could help to reduce an individual’s exposure to transportation noise at home, even in urban areas. Examples include better enforcement of noise ordinances, infrastructure to block road noise, rules for air traffic, low-noise tires for vehicles and better noise insulation for buildings.

New clues about how a high-salt diet contributes to cardiometabolic diseases found deep in the brain

 Deep in the brain a group of large neurons produce a hormone which prompts our bodies to hold onto more fluid and increase blood pressure.

Scientists say these neurons play a critical role in enabling our bodies to maintain healthy homeostasis by using this skill set to efficiently eliminate the excessive salt we consume in an unhealthy meal.

But scientists at the Medical College of Georgia and Georgia State University also say that the chronic high-salt diet most Americans consume can turn this system against us, resulting in hyperactivity of these neurons, continuing production of this hormone vasopressin, constriction of blood vessels and increasing our risk for common cardiometabolic diseases like high blood pressure and heart disease.

A new $2.7 million multi-principal investigator grant (RHL162575A1) from the National Institutes of Health is enabling the scientists to further explore this apparently novel way cardiometabolic diseases happen and identify new therapeutic targets for them.

The large neurons in the supraoptic nucleus in the hypothalamus near the base of the brain secrete oxytocin, a hormone key to the reproductive system, as well as vasopressin, called an antidiuretic hormone because it actually helps the body hold onto fluids, which can help dilute excess salt in the body so it can be excreted in the urine, says Dr. Jessica A. Filosa, neurovascular physiologist in the MCG Department of Physiology. 

“We are looking at how the brain is sensing high salt and how it’s responding to that high salt to correct the disturbance in an efficient way and regain homeostasis,” Filosa says.

She and Dr. Javier E. Stern, director of the GSU Center for Neuroinflammation and Cardiometabolic Diseases, are both PIs on the new grant.  

They are finding that salt loading increases the firing of vasopressin-producing neurons, increases constriction of blood vessels and decreases local blood flow. More typically when neurons become active, blood flow to them increases, in a process called neurovascular coupling. This helps ensure working neurons have the adequate oxygen and nutrients needed to sustain increased activity.

In the supraoptic nucleus, however, Stern, Filosa and their colleagues, showed that the high activity of vasopressin neurons produces an apparently self-induced and sustained constriction of the vast network of blood vessels directly feeding them. The investigators also showed that the resulting local hypoxia — an oxygen supply considered inadequate to sustain homeostasis — was one of the mechanisms by which the activity of vasopressin neurons was further excited. It’s a form of inverse neurovascular coupling.

“Your body wants to stay in balance,” Filosa says. “Any time that you do something to your body or something happens to you that deviates from that balance, homeostatic processes turn on and (at least try) to restore balance.” In this case, excess salt is a trigger for the homeostatic processes.

But the process becomes a problem that instead contributes to high blood pressure and likely other problems when high-salt intake becomes chronic like it is for most of us: 90% of Americans age 2 and older consume too much sodium, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, an average of more than 3,400 milligrams daily compared to the recommended 2,300 milligrams. 

The new grant is enabling studies in both tissue and an animal model Stern developed looking further at specific mechanisms and signaling and just how the resulting reduced blood flow in the region of vasopressin neurons manages to increase rather than decrease their activity. And, what happens to this unusual response in the face of conditions like heart failure.

They also want to know if they first constrict the blood vessels, does it still have this odd response of increasing neuron activity. This type of insight should help them better dissect the pathway. They already know that hypoxia makes the environment more acidic and that these neurons have an acid sensing ion channel, or ASIC, which means that a low pH can activate ASIC channels and increase the firing of the neurons. That could mean that chronic high salt consumption, which results in hypertension, vessel remodeling and enhanced constriction, also works in this direction to keep overstimulating the neurons to keep releasing vasopressin.

Another piece of the puzzle is astrocytes, those star-shaped brain cells that support neurons and typically step up their game when neurons are more active. But in this region, high salt intake prompts astrocytes to retract their processes which potentially worsens the scenario because one of the many jobs of astrocytes is to remove excitatory signals from where these neurons sit to keep them from overreacting.

They also are further exploring early evidence that yet another piece of the puzzle, the slow buildup of the natural, strong blood vessel dilator nitric oxide that hypoxia also induces, could be a mechanism for restoring homeostasis to these overactive neurons. There are multiple potential sources for nitric oxide nearby, including the neurons themselves, the supportive astrocytes, and potentially the endothelial cells that line blood vessels.

But Filosa notes that in cardiometabolic disease, nitric oxide signaling is impaired which could mean that the mechanism that turns vasopressin neurons off is impaired, something they also will be exploring in their model of heart failure.

Another of the many questions they want to answer is if you have too much vasopressin in the supraoptic nucleus, does that also decrease blood flow to other areas of the brain, including areas that do need more blood to be more active.

“You start with a process that really quickly is supposed to correct a disbalance in your body and it does as long as you are healthy,” she says. But if anything gets disrupted, like too little nitric oxide or too much vasopressin, it instead results in a maladaptive response and hyperexcitability of vasopressin neurons, creating a vicious and unhealthy cycle.  

“I think the take home message here is that we have a very sophisticated system in this area of the brain that quickly restores a disturbances, like with a high-salt meal, and you want to keep that system healthy,” Filosa says.

The work started in Filosa’s lab with former graduate student Dr. Wenting Du working in brain slices and finding that if you stimulate vasopressin neurons the blood vessels around them constrict, making it clear it’s a local action. When the scientists blocked the activity of the neurons, blood vessel constriction didn’t happen. 

In collaboration with Dr. Colin Brown, hypothalamus researcher in the Centre for Neuroendocrinology at the University of Otago Research Center in New Zealand, Stern developed an in vivo approach to image the supraoptic nucleus of the hypothalamus enabling the scientists to see if what they first found in response to putting salt on these neurons ex vivo also occurs in  the intact brain. With the in vivo neuroimaging technique developed, the scientists watched in real time as salt prompted a sustained increase in the activity of vasopressin neurons and constriction of blood vessels that supply the supraoptic nucleus. Also, they observed that the constriction was sufficient to create hypoxia in the region and increased neuronal activity.  

As part of a major collaborative effort, Drs. Stern, Filosa, Brown, Du and others reported this unusual response late last year in the journal Cell Reports.

Lower blood flow in other brain regions, like the cortex, in response to a stimulus is more typically associated with disease conditions, like Alzheimer’s or stroke, Stern commented at the time. Still there are other brain regions that use this rather unorthodox approach to increase neuronal activity, Filosa says.

The irony that this hypoxia-induced increased firing of neurons happens is compounded by the fact that the supraoptic nucleus has such a huge network of blood vessels supplying neurons that oddly are normally hypoxia resistant, a reality that has always made scientists scratch their heads.

100g of cranberries a day improves cardiovascular health

A new clinical trial found daily consumption of cranberries for one month improved cardiovascular function in healthy men.

The new study, published today in Food & Function, included 45 healthy men who consumed whole cranberry powder equivalent to 100g of fresh cranberries per day (9 g powder) or a placebo for one month. Those consuming cranberry had a significant improvement in flow-mediated dilation (FMD), which signals improvement of heart and blood vessel function. FMD is considered a sensitive biomarker of cardiovascular disease risk and measures how blood vessels widen when blood flow increases.

Dr. Ana Rodriguez-Mateos, Senior Lecturer in Nutrition at the Department of Nutritional Sciences at King’s College London and senior author of the study, said: “The increases in polyphenols and metabolites in the bloodstream and the related improvements in flow-mediated dilation after cranberry consumption emphasise the important role cranberries may play in cardiovascular disease prevention. The fact that these improvements in cardiovascular health were seen with an amount of cranberries that can be reasonably consumed daily makes cranberry an important fruit in the prevention of cardiovascular disease for the general public.”

Low consumption of fruits and vegetables is one of the top modifiable risk factors associated with a higher incidence of cardiovascular disease worldwide. Growing evidence continues to link the polyphenols from berries with heart health benefits. Cranberries are rich in unique proanthocyanidins that have distinct properties compared to polyphenols found in other fruits.

This study explored whole cranberry freeze-dried powder, equivalent to 100g of fresh cranberries, and its impact on cardiovascular health. The results demonstrated that consumption of cranberries as part of a healthy diet can help reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease by improving blood vessel function.

An initial pilot study was completed with five healthy young men to confirm the biological activity of the whole cranberry freeze-dried powder. The pilot concluded that cranberry consumption increased FMD and confirmed dosing. The main study was a gold standard study design examining 45 healthy men each consuming two packets of whole cranberry freeze-dried powder equivalent to 100g of fresh cranberries, or a placebo, daily for one month. The study found significant improvements in FMD two hours after first consumption and after one month of daily consumption showing both immediate and chronic benefit. In addition, metabolites were also identified and predicted the positive effects seen in FMD. These results conclude that cranberries can play an important role in supporting cardiovascular health and good blood vessel function.

Dr. Christian Heiss, Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine at the University of Surrey and co-author of the study said: “Our findings provide solid evidence that cranberries can significantly affect vascular health even in people with low cardiovascular risk. This study further indicates that specific metabolites present in blood after cranberry consumption are related to the beneficial effects.”   

To read the study in its entirety, the Food & Function article can be accessed here: Daily consumption of cranberry improves endothelial function in healthy adults: a double blind randomized controlled trial.