Mediterranean Diet: Wild Artichoke May Promote Cardiovascular Health
Artichoke extract may lower your cholesterol. A new study by the “Laboratory of Micronutrients and Cardiovascular Disease” (Universite Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris) adds further evidence why eating artichoke (in this case, the wild artichoke, Cynara cardunculus) is good for your cardiovascular system.
The occurrence of cardiovascular events crucially depends on the stability of the plaque that has formed in your blood vessels. Metalloproteinases are enzymes which destabilize plaques, thus enhancing the risk for suffering a stroke or heart attack. The team of Francesco Visioli now tested whether an extract prepared from wild artichoke is able to reduce the activity of metalloproteinases in a cell culture model.
“In this study, we sought to determine whether supplementation with Cynara cardunculus [wild artichoke] or its main identified constituents, namely luteolin-7-glycoside, apigenin, and caffeic acid, modulates metalloproteinase-9 expression and activity in cell culture.”
“In summary, our results show that Cynara cardunculus, a wild plant traditionally part of the Mediterranean diet, is a powerful inhibitor of metalloproteinase-9, by interfering with its transcription and production. The inhibitory effects most probably are not due to an individual component of wild artichoke, but, rather, to minor constituent fraction(s) as a whole. In promoting the health benefits of the Mediterranean diet, the role of wild plants as important meal components deserves further appraisal.”
In short, the study, which has been part of the project ‘Local Food-Nutraceuticals’, shows again that:
1) adherence to a Mediterranean-like diet has the potential to maintain your cardiovascular health and that
2) the sum of food constituents is more effective than its parts.
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POSTED IN: Healthy Eating, ~Cardiovascular Health
1 opinion for Mediterranean Diet: Wild Artichoke May Promote Cardiovascular Health
Tom
Jul 31, 2008 at 6:35 pm
You had a post relatively recently about artichoke extract having potential health benefits. I think the theme is that most of the natural fruits and vegetables that we eat have many health benefits, including a great deal we don’t know about. Hopefully, studies continue to show us which ones are best, and how we can best utilize them.
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