Effects of n‐3 PUFA supplementation with or without low‐calorie cranberry juice cocktail on flow‐mediated vasodilation in men

Abstract

Consumption of fish as well as fruits and vegetables have been shown to have favorable effects on CVD risk. The present study was therefore undertaken in order to compare the effects of fish oil (FO) w/wo cranberry juice cocktail (CJC) supplementation on flow‐mediated vasodilation (FMD) in men. A group of 53 men was divided into 4 groups: 1) placebo, n=11, 2) 500 mL/day CJC, n=13, 3) 2.4 g/day of FO, n=15 and 4) CJC+FO, n=14. Before and after the intervention, FMD was measured by ultrasound echography of the brachial artery at 60 and 90 seconds after hyperemia. We found no difference in baseline brachial artery diameter (AD), FMD60 and FMD90 between the four groups. We noted that FMD60 (1.2 ± 1.8 %, p=0.029) and FMD90 (+2.5 ± 3.2 %, p=0.013) were significantly improved following the intervention in CJC+FO individuals only. CJC subjects showed no improvement in FMD but displayed a significantly increased resting brachial AD (+0.20 ± 0.24 mm, p=0.013) after the intervention. We also found that changes in FMD60 and FMD90 were negatively associated with brachial AD. In summary, we found that CJC+FO supplementation improved FMD in healthy overweight subjects and that drinking CJC on daily basis for 12 weeks was associated with an increase in resting brachial AD. Further studies are needed to confirm our results and verify the clinical relevance of our observations.Supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (MOP‐64438)