Abstract
The most common manifestation of cardiovascular (CV) diseases is the presence of arterial hypertension (AH), which impacts on endothelial dysfunction. CV risk is associated with high values of systolic and diastolic blood pressure and depends on the presence of risk factors, both modifiable and not modifiable, such as overweight, obesity, physical exercise, smoking, age, family history, and gender. The main target organs affected by AH are the heart, brain, vessels, kidneys, and eye retina. AH onset can be counteracted or delayed by adopting a proper diet, characterized by a low saturated fat and sodium intake, a high fruit and vegetable intake, a moderate alcohol consumption, and achieving and maintaining over time the ideal body weight. In this review, we analyzed how a new nutritional approach, named caloric restriction diet (CRD), can provide a significant reduction in blood pressure values and an improvement of the endothelial dysfunction. In fact, CRD is able to counteract aging and delay the onset of CV and neurodegenerative diseases through the reduction of body fat mass, systolic and diastolic values, free radicals production, and oxidative stress. Currently, there are few studies on CRD effects in the long term, and it would be advisable to perform observational studies with longer follow-up.
Highlights
As is well known, high blood pressure (BP) is one of the most important public health problems worldwide
We focused on the possible beneficial effect of caloric restriction diet (CRD) on the BP control, highlighting the main antihypertensive mechanisms exerted by this nutritional approach
Results showed that parameters such as Doppler flow diastolic function mean indexes, BP, C-reactive protein (CRP), tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, and TGF-β1 were significantly lower in the CRD subject, compared to the control group
Summary
High blood pressure (BP) is one of the most important public health problems worldwide. Numerous studies have shown that eating habits are able to modify CV risk factors [10,11,12] These impact on endothelial function, favoring the inflammatory processes underlying atherosclerosis [13]. The endothelial dysfunction occurs when there is an abnormal production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) of pro-inflammatory cytokines, such as interleukin (IL)-1 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, and a decrease release of NO [15] This condition triggers the atherosclerosis process [14]. It should be useful to identify predisposed patients and instruct them to lifestyle changes Such lifestyle changes concern to the adoption of healthy diet, in order to avoid high alcohol consumption, to promote regular physical activity, to maintain the normal BW, to stop smoking and to avoid passive smoking [18]. The wide availability of drugs offers the possibility to obtain a fast-hypotensive effect and to act positively on the mechanisms that predispose to CV events
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