Department of Preventive Medicine & Public Health, Medical School, University of Navarra Clinic, Irunlarrea 1, 31008 Pamplona, Spain.
Curr Top Med Chem. 2011;11(14):1861-9. doi: 10.2174/156802611796235143.
Cardiovascular disease represents an unparalleled proportion of the global burden of disease and will remain the main cause of mortality for the near future. Fortunately, most premature cardiovascular deaths are preventable. Therefore, prevention becomes vital and diet has shown beneficial effects to protect from CVD (CVD). Fruits and vegetables are dietary sources of natural antioxidants and it is generally accepted that antioxidants in these foods are key in explaining the inverse association between fruits and vegetables intake and the risk of developing a cardiovascular event or having elevated levels of cardiovascular risk factors. Available evidence supports the central role of oxidative stress in the atherosclerosis process and the correlation between increased oxidative stress and vascular disease. Theoretically, antioxidants in fruits and vegetables are important in inhibiting oxidative mechanisms that lead to various degenerative diseases including CVD. However, results from many interventional trials using antioxidants given as supplements have not been concordant with previous positive findings from observational epidemiologic cohort studies. The present manuscript gives a brief overview of the relationship between natural antioxidants (specially vitamin C, vitamin E and beta-carotene) intake and the risk of CVD.
心血管疾病在全球疾病负担中占比极高，且在不久的将来仍将是主要死因。幸运的是，大多数心血管疾病的过早死亡是可以预防的。因此，预防变得至关重要，而饮食已被证明对预防心血管疾病 (CVD) 有有益作用。水果和蔬菜是天然抗氧化剂的饮食来源，人们普遍认为这些食物中的抗氧化剂是解释水果和蔬菜摄入量与心血管事件风险或心血管危险因素水平升高之间呈反比关系的关键。现有证据支持氧化应激在动脉粥样硬化过程中的核心作用，以及氧化应激增加与血管疾病之间的相关性。从理论上讲，水果和蔬菜中的抗氧化剂在抑制导致包括 CVD 在内的各种退行性疾病的氧化机制方面非常重要。然而，许多使用抗氧化剂作为补充剂进行的干预试验的结果与先前来自观察性流行病学队列研究的阳性发现并不一致。本文简要概述了天然抗氧化剂（特别是维生素 C、维生素 E 和β-胡萝卜素）摄入与 CVD 风险之间的关系。
