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Food supplementation with an olive ( Olea europaea L.) leaf extract reduces blood pressure in borderline hypertensive monozygotic twins
Author(s) -
PerrinjaquetMoccetti Tania,
Busjahn Andreas,
Schmidlin Caesar,
Schmidt Annette,
Bradl Barbara,
Aydogan Cem
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
phytotherapy research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.019
H-Index - 129
eISSN - 1099-1573
pISSN - 0951-418X
DOI - 10.1002/ptr.2455
Subject(s) - blood pressure , medicine , diastole , cholesterol , endocrinology , heart rate , cardiology
Hypertension is a harmful disease factor that develops unnoticed over time. The treatment of hypertension is aimed at an early diagnosis followed by adequate lifestyle changes rather than pharmacological treatment. The olive leaf extract EFLA ® 943, having antihypertensive actions in rats, was tested as a food supplement in an open study including 40 borderline hypertensive monozygotic twins. Twins of each pair were assigned to different groups receiving 500 or 1000 mg/day EFLA ® 943 for 8 weeks, or advice on a favourable lifestyle. Body weight, heart rate, blood pressure, glucose and lipids were measured fortnightly. Blood pressure changed significantly within pairs, depending on the dose, with mean systolic differences of ≤6 mmHg (500 mg vs control) and ≤13 mmHg (1000 vs 500 mg), and diastolic differences of ≤5 mmHg. After 8 weeks, mean blood pressure remained unchanged from baseline in controls (systolic/diastolic: 133 ± 5/77 ± 6 vs 135 ± 11/80 ± 7 mmHg) and the low‐dose group (136 ± 7/77 ± 7 vs 133 ± 10/76 ± 7), but had significantly decreased for the high dose group (137 ± 10/80 ± 10 vs 126 ± 9/76 ± 6). Cholesterol levels decreased for all treatments with significant dose‐dependent within‐pair differences for LDL‐cholesterol. None of the other parameters showed significant changes or consistent trends. Concluding, the study confirmed the antihypertensive and cholesterol‐lowering action of EFLA ® 943 in humans. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.