Abstract

There is a widespread belief in Iranian society that verjuice consumption has useful effects on blood lipid profile and hypertension. This study was designed to examine this hypothesis.This study subjects included three groups: (A) healthy individuals volunteers of age 20 to 30years; (B) hyperlipidemic patients of age 30 to 60 years old; and (C) hyperlipidemic plus hypertensive patients of age 30 to 60 years. All subjects were asked to consume 200 ml ofverjuice twice per day for one month. At the beginning of this study and then every two weeks, blood pressure and heart rate were measured. Blood sample were also collected and all parameters consisted of plasma lipid profile, total antioxidant capacity (TAC), and malondialdehyde (MDA) were measured. There was no significant difference between the levels of lipid profile components, heart rate, and blood pressure before and after consumption of the verjuice in healthy volunteers. However, in all the three groups, the concentration of TAC and high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) to low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) ratio was increased and MDA concentration was reduced respectively, in all subjects after verjuice consumption. In hyperlipidemic and hyperlipidemic plus hypertensive peoples, administration of verjuice, after four weeks (no two weeks) resulted in significant reduction of blood pressure along with the reduction of LDL-C, triglyceride (TG), and total cholesterol (TC) concentrations. In conclusion, although blood pressure and lipid profile disorders did not completely return to normal levels by verjuice consumption, it seems that it is used as a flavoring, not devoid of benefit may be due to its antioxidant effects.

Key words: Verjuice, blood pressure, blood lipid profile, malondialdehyde (MDA), total antioxidant capacity (TAC).