Summary Dietary supplementation with polyphenolic antioxidants to animals was shown to be associated with inhibition of LDL oxidation and macrophage foam cell formation, and attenuation of atherosclerosis development. We investigated the effects of pomegranate juice (PJ, which contains potent tannins and anthocyanins) consumption by atherosclerotic patients with carotid artery stenosis (CAS) on the progression of carotid lesions and changes in oxidative stress and blood pressure.
Ten patients were supplemented with pomegranate juice for 1 year and five of them continued for up to 3 years. Blood samples were collected before treatment and during pomegranate juice consumption. In the control group that did not consume pomegranate juice, common carotid intimamedia thickness (IMT) increased by 9% during 1 year, whereas, pomegranate juice consumption resulted in a significant IMT reduction, by up to 30%, after 1 year. The patients’ serum paraoxonase 1 (PON 1) activity was increased by 83%, whereas serum LDL basal oxidative state and LDL susceptibility to copper ion-induced oxidation were both significantly reduced, by 90% and 59%, respectively, after 12 months of PJ consumption, compared to values obtained before pomegranate juice consumption. Furthermore, serum levels of antibodies against oxidized LDL were decreased by 19%, and in parallel serum total antioxidant status (TAS) was increased by 130% after 1 year of PJ consumption. Systolic blood pressure was reduced after 1 year of pomegranate juice consumption by 21% and was not further reduced along 3 years of pomegranate juice consumption. For all studied
