Consumption of plant seeds and cardiovascular health: epidemiological and clinical trial evidence

Emilio Ros, Frank B Hu, Emilio Ros, Frank B Hu

No abstract available

Keywords: cardiovascular diseases; cocoa; coffee; diabetes mellitus; diet; epidemiology; nutrition assessments; nuts.

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Consumption of seeds improves cardiovascular health due to their unique composition in bioactive nutrients and phytochemicals and a complex synergy among them for effects on metabolic and vascular physiology pathways. The main known nutrients of seeds are represented together with their principal biological targets (long arrow connections). The net effects on intermediate markers of cardiovascular risk that have been demonstrated for most seed classes in clinical trials are cholesterol-lowering, improved glycemic control, decreased blood pressure, improved vasomotion, reduced platelet aggregation, and antioxidant and antiinflammatory actions. The overall result is reduced CVD and/or T2DM, as suggested for all seeds in observational cohort studies and observed for nuts in clinical trials. See text for details. Abbreviations: carb, carbohydrate, GI, glycemic index; K, potassium; Mg, magnesium; Ca, calcium; NO, nitrous oxide; FMD, flow-mediated vasodilation.