Abstract
Our understanding of platelet functionality has undergone a sea change in the last decade. No longer are platelets viewed simply as regulators of haemostasis; they are now acknowledged to be pivotal in coordinating the inflammatory and immune responses. This expanded role for platelets brings new opportunities for controlling a range of health conditions, targeting platelet activation and their interactions with other vascular cells. Antiplatelet drugs may be of wider utility than ever expected but often cause platelet suppression too strong to be used out of clinical settings. Dietary antiplatelets represent a nutritional approach that can be efficacious while safe for general use. In this review, we discuss potential new uses for dietary antiplatelets outside the field of cardiovascular health, with specific reference to the water-soluble tomato extract Fruitflow®. Its uses in different aspects of inflammation and immune function are discussed, highlighting exercise-induced inflammation, mediating the effects of air pollution, and controlling thrombotic aspects of the immune response. Potential future developments in women’s health, erectile dysfunction, and the allergic response indicate how broad the utility of dietary antiplatelets can be.
Highlights
As compounds found in Fruitflow® have been shown to affect many aspects of platelet function, including thrombin generation, during all human intervention studies, care was taken to incorporate specific safety-focused measures to examine whether any effects on the intrinsic or extrinsic clotting pathways could be detected alongside antiplatelet effects
Our early work showed that the phenolic glycosides contained in Fruitflow® are strongly linked with their effects on thrombin-mediated platelet activation; we hypothesise that compounds such as chlorogenic acid and other caffeic acid glycosides, as well as ester derivatives of phenolic acids, are important in mediating these effects
Platelets have multifaceted functions which generate a complicated set of interactions with other vascular cells, leading to many roles outside haemostasis
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. The effects of Fruitflow® in humans was demonstrated in ten studies focused on platelet aggregation and hypertension (see review [11]) On average, these studies showed an inhibition of the platelet response to ADP agonist by approximately 9–23% and inhibition of the response to collagen by approximately 10–18%. As compounds found in Fruitflow® have been shown to affect many aspects of platelet function, including (via effects on TF immobilisation and signalling) thrombin generation, during all human intervention studies, care was taken to incorporate specific safety-focused measures to examine whether any effects on the intrinsic or extrinsic clotting pathways could be detected alongside antiplatelet effects. The efficacy and safety profile of Fruitflow® are suited to use in primary prevention, whereas aspirin is not
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