Abstract
Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a risk factor for cognitive deterioration and frailty in older adults. In this regard it has been shown that oxidative stress (OxS) and chronic inflammation are involved in the pathophysiology of these alterations. Harmless antioxidant and anti-inflammatory therapeutic alternatives have been proposed, such as the consumption of Sechium edule (chayote), but the evidence is inconclusive. For this reason, an exploratory study of a single group chosen by convenience sampling, including 12 older adults, with an average age of 71 ± 6 years (10 women and 2 men) with a diagnosis of MetS according to the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP/ATP III) criteria. This exploratory study aimed to determine the effect of the consumption of the dried fruit powder supplement of Sechium edule var. nigrum spinosum (500 mg, 3 times per day) for six weeks on the markers of OxS in elderly adults with MetS. All participants’ OxS markers were measured before and after treatment. There was a statistically significant decrease in the concentration of lipoperoxides (baseline, 0.289 ± 0.04 vs. post-treatment, 0.234 ± 0.06 μmol/L, p < 0.05), together with a significant increase in total antioxidant status (baseline, 0.97 ± 0.18 vs. post-treatment, 1.2 ± 0.12 mmol/L, p < 0.05). In this sense, the oxidative stress index showed a statistically significant decrease (baseline, 1.7 ± 0.78 vs. post-treatment, 0.75 ± 0.87, p < 0.05). A statistically significant decrease in the concentration of TNF-α after treatment was also found (baseline, 5.3 ± 1.4 vs. post-treatment, 3.5 ± 1.3, p < 0.05).Our findings suggest that the consumption of the dry fruit of Sechium edule has an antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effect in older adults with metabolic syndrome.
Highlights
Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a group of biochemical and clinical alterations characterized by insulin resistance, dyslipidemia, inflammation, coagulation disorders, hypertension and obesity [1,2].The prevalence of MetS in older adults is more than 50%, and has been shown to be a risk factor for cognitive deterioration and frailty, as well as for type 2 diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular diseases [3,4,5,6].Antioxidants 2019, 8, 146; doi:10.3390/antiox8050146 www.mdpi.com/journal/antioxidantsIt has been shown that oxidative stress (OxS) and chronic inflammation (CI) are involved in the pathophysiology of these alterations
Complementary antioxidant and anti-inflammatory therapeutic alternatives have been proposed [7,8,9,10,11]. In this context it has been reported that older adults often consume herbal medicinal products, such as the Sechium edule [12,13]
The following clinical parameters and biochemical markers were measured in the study participants at the beginning of the study and after six weeks of intervention: anthropometric measurements, blood pressure, biochemical parameters, glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c), concentration of lipoperoxides, total antioxidant status in plasma (TAS) and erythrocyte activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) enzymes and inflammatory cytokines in serum
Summary
It has been shown that oxidative stress (OxS) and chronic inflammation (CI) are involved in the pathophysiology of these alterations. For this reason, complementary antioxidant and anti-inflammatory therapeutic alternatives have been proposed [7,8,9,10,11]. Complementary antioxidant and anti-inflammatory therapeutic alternatives have been proposed [7,8,9,10,11] In this context it has been reported that older adults often consume herbal medicinal products, such as the Sechium edule (chayote) [12,13].
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