Department of Food, Environmental and Nutritional Sciences, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via Celoria 2, 20133 Milan, Italy.
Nutrients. 2022 Jun 24;14(13):2615. doi: 10.3390/nu14132615.
Cardiovascular diseases, still the leading cause of mortality in the world, are closely related to vascular function. Older subjects are more susceptible to endothelial dysfunction and therefore it is important to define possible preventive or support strategies, such as consumption of foods with health-promoting effects. This systematic review aims to summarize the currently available evidence on acute or chronic trials testing the effect of selected plant-based foods on vascular function parameters in older subjects, and consider plausible mechanisms that may support the main findings. A total of 15 trials were included and analyzed, testing the effects of beetroot, plum, blueberry, and vegetable oils. We found some interesting results regarding markers of vascular reactivity, in particular for beetroot, while no effects were found for markers of arterial stiffness. The amelioration of vascular function seems to be more related to the restoration of a condition of nitric oxide impairment, exacerbated by diseases or hypoxic condition, rather than the enhancement of a physiological situation, as indicated by the limited effects on healthy older subjects or in control groups with young subjects. However, the overall set of selected studies is, in any case, rather limited and heterogeneous in terms of characteristics of the studies, indicating the need for additional high-quality intervention trials to better clarify the role of vegetable foods in restoring and/or improving vascular function in order to better elucidate the mechanisms through which these foods may exert their vascular health benefits in older subjects.
心血管疾病仍然是世界上主要的死亡原因，与血管功能密切相关。老年人更容易出现内皮功能障碍，因此，确定可能的预防或支持策略非常重要，例如食用具有促进健康作用的食物。本系统评价旨在总结目前关于急性或慢性试验的现有证据，这些试验测试了某些植物性食物对老年人血管功能参数的影响，并考虑可能支持主要发现的合理机制。共纳入并分析了 15 项试验，测试了甜菜根、李子、蓝莓和植物油的作用。我们发现了一些关于血管反应性标志物的有趣结果，特别是对于甜菜根，而对于动脉僵硬的标志物则没有发现效果。血管功能的改善似乎与一氧化氮损伤的恢复更为相关，这种损伤会因疾病或缺氧状态而加剧，而不是增强生理状态，这表明在健康的老年人或年轻对照组中，效果有限。然而，无论如何，所选研究的总体集合是相当有限和异质的，研究特征不同，表明需要更多高质量的干预试验来更好地阐明蔬菜在恢复和/或改善血管功能方面的作用，以便更好地阐明这些食物可能通过何种机制对老年人的血管健康产生有益影响。
