Abstract
Medications or lifestyle changes to prevent or improve hypertension often press considerable efforts on patients suffering from mild hypertension. Beverages including Umezu polyphenols (UP), polyphenols in Japanese plums, may help them to control their blood pressure. Healthy medical students, workers, and community dwellers who had some concerns about their blood pressure were randomized in a doubleblind manner into UP ingesting and placebo groups. The first two samples (medical students and workers) were placed in a preliminary study, and based on the results from that study, and the dose of UP for the community dwellers was determined. All three groups were followed for 5 weeks, and blood pressure, as well as biochemical markers related to hypertension and atherosclerosis and self-perceived quality-of-life outcomes, was monitored during that period. Group × time interactions on blood pressure changes were examined. For the community dwellers, blood pressure changes did not significantly differ between the UP ingesting and placebo groups. And although studies of students and workers showed subtle differences in blood pressure among the UP and placebo groups, a dose-dependent effect of UP on decreasing blood pressure could not be confirmed. On the other hand, anti-oxidative effects of UP were confirmed especially among male drinkers who were community dwellers. For the community dwellers, self-perceived physical health significantly improved in those who ingested UP. In conclusion, UP might prevent oxidation. A longer monitoring period as well as a higher dose of UP might enable us to confirm effects of UP against hypertension.
Highlights
Hypertension is one of the major risk factors associated with cardio- and cerebrovascular diseases, and has a strong impact on global health
Workers and students as well as community dwellers were asked to measure their blood pressure early in the morning every day; after urinating and/or defecating, and before eating breakfast, systolic and diastolic blood pressure of the right arm were measured with an automatic sphygmomanometer (HEM747IC or HEM-7080IT, Omron, Kyoto, Japan), twice in a sitting position with arms supported at the right atrium level
Changes in the self-measured blood pressure of students, workers, and community dwellers, and between the Umezu polyphenols (UP) group and the placebo group, showed almost the same pattern as those measured by the research staff
Summary
Hypertension is one of the major risk factors associated with cardio- and cerebrovascular diseases, and has a strong impact on global health. Since most of the existing hypertension drugs often show adverse effects, their applications are limited, especially for those with mild hypertension who are approaching clinically dangerous levels Those people should lower their blood pressures, at least by changing their lifestyles to healthier ones. This effect was considered to be due to the antioxidant constituents of prunes [12] If such constituents were added to common soft drinks, people with mild hypertension might successfully reduce their blood pressure without having to make considerable efforts. In this regard, Japanese plums, especially the well-known products of Wakayama Prefecture in Japan, have been reported to be effective for improving human health including cardiovascular conditions [13,14]. Selfperceived physical and mental health conditions that are considered to affect hypertension were evaluated
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