Food and plant bioactives for reducing cardiovascular disease risk

Abstract

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are the leading cause of mortality and disability worldwide, taking an estimated 17.9 million lives each year. The economic burden for CVDs is estimated to have been 906 billion dollars in 2015 and is expected to rise to 22% by 2030. In this context, the scientific community is highlighting the need to support a concept of "preventive medicine", based first of all to the lifestyle change, and if necessary, the use of nutraceutical substances as well. The evidence-based prescription of these molecules seems a viable option, especially in people in primary prevention from chronic diseases and, in the specific, in patients with suboptimal values of blood pressure, cholesterolemia and triglyceridemia. Within the world of nutraceuticals, in the last years, a growing interest has been directed to food and plant bioactives, which may have a potential disease preventing and therapeutic use. In particular, bioactive peptides derived from both animal and plant derivatives demonstrated a significant anti-hypertensive and lipid-lowering effect in randomized clinical trials (RCTs). Furthermore, some polyphenols isolated from foods or plants, exert anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant activity, which could strengthen the prevention of chronic diseases. Other bioactive compounds extracted from food or plant derivates and used to support cardiovascular risk patients include polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), lycopene, alliin, plant sterols, monacolin k and berberine. Nevertheless, although bioactive molecules showed their effectiveness in the studies conducted up to today, further long-term RCTs are necessary to confirm these effects to allow their preventive use.