Addressing Hypertension via Nutrition (Stalking a Silent Killer)

In the diet, garlic often comes accompanied by tomatoes, themselves a source of beneficial compounds, such as the antioxidant carotenoid lycopene. A team from the Pennington Biomedical Research Center, Baton Rouge, La., used USDA food composition databases to analyze phytochemical content of the DASH diet and found it was much higher in lycopene and flavonols than control diets.⁶² Tomato extract itself was the subject of a study out of University of the Negev, Beer Sheva, Israel, in which researchers investigated the effect of tomato extract (as Lyc-O-Mato®, from Lycored) on systolic and diastolic blood pressure in grade-1 hypertension.⁶³ Researchers treated the 31 subjects with 250 mg/d of Lyc-O-Mato for eight-weeks, followed by a four-week placebo intervention. After active treatment, systolic blood pressure decreased from 144 to 134 mm Hg, and diastolic blood pressure declined to 83.4 mm Hg from 87.4 mm Hg. No changes to blood pressure were seen on the placebo.

The carotenoid astaxanthin also may impact hypertensive markers. Japanese researchers found oral administration of astaxanthin (50 mg/kg/d) in hypertensive rats could induce a significant reduction in arterial blood pressure, while also modulating levels of circulating lipids.⁶⁴ Further animal research suggests astaxanthin may exert its positive effects on blood pressure by improving vascular elastin and arterial wall thickness,⁶⁵ and modulating blood fluidity.⁶⁶

In a condition such as hypertension, where the etiology behind the majority of cases is unknown, dietary interventions and lifestyle modifications have a significant role to play in optimizing health and avoiding steps toward this chronic disease. Offering multi-faceted nutritional products that can help consumers take charge of the range of cardiovascular risk factors means not staying silent, but sounding the charge for positive heart health.

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