The Effects of Grape Seed Oil on the Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Overweight and Obese Women: A Double-Blind Randomized Clinical Trial

Abstract

Cardiovascular diseases are one of the major types of non-communicable diseases with increasing prevalence worldwide. Oil consumption is an important part of the modifiable nutritional risk factor of cardiovascular diseases. The present study aims to examine the effects of grape seed oil consumption against sunflower oil on lipid profiles, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, and weight management among overweight and obese females. In the current randomized clinical trial, 39 overweight or obese women were randomly allocated into the grape seed oil and sunflower oil groups and completed the study successfully. Anthropometric parameters were measured every two weeks. Fasting serum lipid profiles and high-sensitivity C-reactive protein levels were measured at the beginning and at the end of the intervention. Dietary data were collected using 3 days of 24-hours dietary recall. The changes in anthropometric measures and nutrient intakes at the end of the study were not significant between the groups. Although lipid profiles improved significantly in both groups, only the changes of the low-density lipoprotein (25.9 ± 6.6 mg/dL vs. 8.63 ± 6.87 mg/dL) and high-density lipoprotein (5.35 ± 2.56 mg/dL vs. 1.73 ± 1.14 mg/dL) were significantly different between the grape seed oil and sunflower oil groups. The changes in the high-sensitivity C-reactive protein level in the grape seed oil vs. sunflower oil group were statistically significant (P = 0.03). Grape seed oil consumption seems to improve lipid biomarkers and reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases in overweight and/or obese females.