2023 PharmaNutrition

Soy protein, bioactive peptides, and isoflavones are generally safe for consumption and may help reduce the risk of several significant health conditions.

Methodology: This review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. It began with a sophisticated multi-database search, featuring resources like Google Scholar, Scopus, and others. This search targeted articles published from 2017 to March 2023 and used specific keywords for accuracy. Forty-three articles were handpicked from this process after excluding reviews, conference reports, duplicates, inaccessible texts, and any non-English publications.

Discussion of Results: A thorough examination of the chosen articles resulted in the conclusion that soy proteins, soy bioactive peptides, and soy isoflavones are typically safe for human consumption. Furthermore, it was found that the consumption of these compounds may have beneficial effects, potentially lowering risk factors for ailments such as osteoporosis, various cancers, hypertension, atherosclerosis, and more.

Soy protein, bioactive peptides, and isoflavones: A review of their safety and health benefits Tan ST, Tan SS, Tan CX

2022 Antioxidants

Pomegranate extract consumption improves antioxidant levels, reduces oxidative stress and cardiovascular risk factors including blood pressure and body fat, and increases lean body mass.

In the study, 24 healthy participants were divided into two groups: one consumed a natural standardized pomegranate extract, while the other, a placebo, in a randomized, single-blind placebo-controlled trial. Evaluations were conducted at baseline and post 14 and 28 days of the experiment, with variables including anthropometric measurements, blood pressure, pulse wave speed, body composition, as well as the levels of salivary and urinary cortisol, cortisone, total phenolics, antioxidant capacity, and lipid peroxidation.

The results indicated significant increases in urinary total phenolics excretion and antioxidant capacity after 14 and 28 days of pomegranate extract intake. By day 28, notable decreases were noted in systolic and diastolic blood pressure, pulse wave velocity, body fat and fat mass, and an increase in lean body mass. In terms of glucocorticoid levels, there was a marked decrease in saliva cortisol at day 28 in the morning for the pomegranate extract group, along with a decrease in the cortisol/cortisone ratio following 28 days of pomegranate extract intake at morning, noon, and evening. Reductions were also seen in urine free cortisol levels by day 14. These observations were unique to the pomegranate extract group, with no significant changes noted in the placebo group.

Antioxidant Properties and Beneficial Cardiovascular Effects of a Natural Extract of Pomegranate in Healthy Volunteers: A Randomized Preliminary Single-Blind Controlled Study Al-Dujaili EAS, Casey C, Stockton A

2020 European Journal of Clinical Nutrition

The literature overall supports an inverse association between green tea and cardiovascular disease-related health outcomes, while the included meta-analyses generally suggested an inverse association between green tea and BMI-related and blood pressure outcomes.

The evidence on green tea consumption and health outcomes presented in this review suggests green tea may be favorable for cardiovascular disease, particularly stroke, and certain cancers such as endometrial, esophageal, lung, non-Hodgkins lymphoma, oral, and ovarian cancer. More evidence is needed to assess the impact of green tea on breast, gastric, and liver cancer risk. Additional studies could also help clarify the suggested null association with certain cancer sites: colorectal, pancreatic, and prostate cancer. Possible minor adverse events on health from green tea consumption were reported in one study, however these must be interpreted cautiously within the study context and possible finer dose-response implications. The findings for green tea and diabetes risk were inconclusive. For BMI the current evidence suggests a possible weak association, while the evidence is stronger supporting a decrease in blood pressure from green tea. More studies investigating a possible association between green tea consumption and other health outcomes such as cognition, injuries, respiratory disease would be informative to more completely assess the impact of green tea on human health.

In conclusion, our review suggests green tea may have health benefits especially for cardiovascular disease and certain cancer sites.

Green tea and cancer and cardiometabolic diseases: a review of the current epidemiological evidence Abe SK, Inoue M

2020 Endocrine, Metabolic & Immune Disorders - Drug Targets

Cinnamon supplementation has favorable effects on diastolic blood pressure and long-term effects on systolic blood pressure.

Out of 927 records, 8 trials that enrolled 582 participants were included. The pooled effect size showed that systolic blood pressure did not change following cinnamon supplementation. Also cinnamon supplementation in long-duration (≥ 8weeks) had a significant effect on systolic blood pressure. Pooled analysis showed that cinnamon had a significant effect on diastolic blood pressure. In addition, results from both duration subsets and high dose (>1500 mg/day) of cinnamon supplementation were significant.

What is the Impact of Cinnamon Supplementation on Blood Pressure? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Hadi A, Campbell MS, Hassani B, Pourmasoumi M, Salehi-Sahlabadi A, Hosseini SA.

2019 International Journal of Hypertension

Acupuncture as an adjunctive therapy has antihypertensive effect.

The mechanism of acupuncture for hypertension is related to RAAS, vascular endothelium, oxidative stress, the neuroendocrine system, and other factors; also, there is cross-talk between multiple systems and multiple targets. In addition, the functional images, genes, metabolism, etc. change with antihypertensive effect. Acupuncture can protect target organs in addition to reducing BP. Overall, based on the mechanism research acupuncture may be an effective intervention for management of hypertension.

The Mechanism of Acupuncture in Treating Essential Hypertension: A Narrative Review Juan Li ,1 Mingsheng Sun ,2 Jing Ye,2 Yuxi Li ,2 Rongjiang Jin ,1 Hui Zheng ,2 and Fanrong Liang 2

2019 Food & Function

Daily consumption of tart cherry juice may enhance cognitive abilities in older adults, likely due to reduction of hypertension, inflammation, and oxidative stress.

In this randomized controlled trial, 37 adults aged between 65 and 80 years with normal cognitive function were assigned to consume two cups of Montmorency tart cherry juice daily for a duration of 12 weeks. Participants' subjective memory and objective cognitive performance were evaluated at the starting point and after the 12-week juice supplementation using a validated memory questionnaire and a standard assortment of tests designed for cognitive assessment. Factors such as daily caloric intake and physical activity levels were also monitored during the study.

After the 12-week intervention, participants who consumed tart cherry juice showed an improvement in their contentment with memory scores, demonstrated decreased scores of movement time, and performed better on a task of paired associates learning when compared to the control group. Notably, the results revealed that the tart cherry juice group demonstrated improvements on measures of visual sustained attention and spatial working memory relative to their own baseline values. These findings suggest that the potential benefits of tart cherry juice to cognitive abilities might be attributed to the juice's antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, and its capacity to reduce blood pressure.

Effect of Montmorency tart cherry juice on cognitive performance in older adults: a randomized controlled trial Chai SC, Jerusik J, Davis K, Wright RS, Zhang Z

2019 Frontiers in Pharmacology

Pu-erh tea's ability to lower blood pressure is primarily due to theabrownins and caffeine, which cause vasodilation irrespective of the endothelium.

For the research methodology, researchers used pu-erh tea aqueous extract to analyze its effects on rat thoracic aortas previously tightened by Phenylephrine or KCl. They observed the isometric tension and intracellular calcium to gauge the direct effects of the tea. The aqueous tea extract was separated into different fractions using organic solvents to identify the specific active components. They assessed the impact these had on the arteries.

The results demonstrated that the vessels relaxed in response to the pu-erh tea extract, irrespective of whether the endothelium was removed or preincubated with potassium channel blockers. Furthermore, the contractibility of the vessels induced by Phenylephrine or CaCl under different conditions was reduced. There was also a decrease in the KCl-induced increase of intracellular calcium in rat aortic smooth muscle cells. Among the different components, researchers found that the chloroform precipitate of the pu-erh tea extract resulted in the strongest vasodilation. Theabrownins, a major part of this precipitate, and caffeine were identified as the active components causing vasodilation in an endothelium-independent manner.

Pu-Erh Tea Relaxes the Thoracic Aorta of Rats by Reducing Intracellular Calcium Luo Dan, Chen Xuejiao, Zhu Xu, Liu Shuang, Li Jie, Xu Jianping, Zhao Jinhua, Ji Xu

2019 Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition

Cinnamon supplementation leads to a significant reduction in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure in adults.

This systematic review and meta-analysis included studies up to July 2019, sourced from databases like PubMed/Medline, Scopus, ISI Web of Science, Embase, and Google Scholar. The research focused on randomized clinical trials that primarily explored the effect of oral cinnamon supplementation on blood pressure parameters, including systolic or diastolic blood pressure.

From the 469 citations, nine trials involving 641 subjects were included. The results inferred that cinnamon supplementation leads to a noticeable decrease in both systolic and diastolic blood pressure. A more remarkable effect on systolic blood pressure was observed in trials using less or equal to 2g cinnamon, lasting for 12 weeks or more, and included participants under the age of 50. Diastolic blood pressure was also reduced using lower doses of cinnamon. No significant non-linear associations were detected between cinnamon supplementation dosage, study duration, and both systolic and diastolic blood pressure.

Anti-hypertensive effects of cinnamon supplementation in adults: A systematic review and dose-response Meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials Seyed Mohammad Mousavi, Ahmad Jayedi, Yahya Jalilpiran, Maryam Hajishafiee, Azadeh Aminianfar, Ahmad Esmaillzadeh.

2015 PLOS One

There is evidence of efficacy of acupuncture as an adjunctive therapy to western medicine for treating hypertension.

Our review provided evidence of acupuncture as an adjunctive therapy to medication for treating hypertension, while the evidence for acupuncture alone lowing BP is insufficient. The safety of acupuncture is uncertain due to the inadequate reporting of it. However, the current evidence might not be sufficiently robust against methodological flaws and significant heterogeneity of the included RCTs. Larger high-quality trials are required.

Is Acupuncture Effective for Hypertension? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Zhao XF, Hu HT, Li JS, Shang HC, Zheng HZ, Niu JF, et al

2014 Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Acupuncture significantly lowers blood pressure in patients taking antihypertensive medications.

Results from this meta-analysis of randomized sham-controlled trials provide evidence that acupuncture helped (lowered) BP in patients taking antihypertensive medications. Our results did not provide support that acupuncture alone significantly lowers BP in patients with hypertension. Larger RCTs with longer follow-up periods would help clarify the potential efficacy and safety of acupuncture for treating hypertension.

Acupuncture for Essential Hypertension: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Sham-Controlled Clinical Trials Li DZ, Zhou Y, Yang YN, Ma YT, Li XM, Yu J, et al.