Daily prickly pear consumption improves platelet function
Introduction
Pima Indians show the highest prevalence of diabetes mellitus worldwide [1]. Traditionally, they consume prickly pear for its well-known antidiabetic [2], [3], [4] and lipid lowering properties [5]. Disturbances in glucose [6] and lipid metabolism [7] are linked to impaired platelet function. Platelet function among others is considered to contribute to a significant extent to the initiation and progression of atherosclerosis. No data as to the influence of prickly pear on platelet function in volunteers or patients are available yet. We are showing, that regular prickly pear consumption significantly affects platelet function in healthy volunteers and patients with mild familial heterozygous hypercholesterolemia (FH).
Section snippets
Patients and methods
Eight healthy volunteers (4 males (4 m), 4 females (4 f); aged 27–39 years) and 8 patients suffering from FH (4 m, 4 f; aged 31–42 years) were investigated (for volunteers and patients characteristics see Table 1). Before starting prickly pear consumption, basic investigation consisting of lipids and lipoproteins (LDL, HDL) as well as platelet function parameters (see below) was performed in the morning after an at least 12 h overnight fasting. All investigated people were non-smokers, none of
Results
While dietary intervention exhibited no significant effect on lipids and lipoproteins both in volunteers and patients (Table 2), the regular daily consumption of prickly pear resulted in a significant (P>0.01) decrease in total- and LDL-cholesterol. HDL in contrast revealed no difference at the different time points of measurement (Table 2).
Discussion
Research indicates, that already in the prehistoric period prickly pear was widely consumed about 6000 years ago by native American population [9]. Prickly pear is a neglected nutritional source [10] its pulp containing glucose (35%), fructose (29%), while the skin essentially contains glucose (21%). Pulp fibers are rich in pectin (14.4%). Prickly pear has been shown to exert antiglycemic [2], [11] and hypolipidemic [12] actions and is used by traditional medicine of native Americans,
Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the valuable help by Eva Unger in typing the manuscript.
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On sabbatical leave from the Department of Physiology, Edo State University Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, Ekpoma, Nigeria, and supported by a stipendium of the ÖAAD (Austrian Academic Exchange Division).