Acute and chronic flow-mediated dilation and blood pressure responses to daily intake of boysenberry juice: a preliminary study

Abstract

There is an increasing interest in dietary polyphenols for risk reduction in cardiovascular diseases. The aim of this study was to evaluate acute and chronic flow-mediated dilation (FMD) and blood pressure responses to daily intake of boysenberry juice. FMD of the brachial artery was measured in six subjects in the initial, intermediate and follow-up stages of a 4-week open-label intervention study. The intake of boysenberry juice (180 ml/d) increased FMD with progression of intervention stage, and FMD differed in the follow-up stage compared with pre-intake baseline (p = 0.0163 < 0.0167 = 0.1/6) using Bonferroni correction. Changes in systolic blood pressure (SBP) correlated negatively with SBP before intake only in the follow-up stage (r = −0.961 and p = 0.0007 at 3.5 h), indicating a greater SBP reduction in subjects with higher SBP. These results suggest that daily intake of boysenberry juice is beneficial for reducing cardiovascular risk.

• 4-Week intervention study
• cardiovascular risk
• short oligomeric flavanols

Acknowledgements

A.M. analysed the data and wrote the paper; R.F. conducted the research and provided input for the paper; Y.S. and H.G. conducted the research; T.Y. and H.N. participated in data analysis and interpretation and M.H. designed the research protocol, analysed data, wrote the paper, and takes primary responsibility for the final content. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.