Cucumber Protects the Artery Integrity Against the Onset of Cardiovascular Disease (CVD)

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a class of diseases associated with blockage of blood vessels that heart disease and stroke, depending on the affected location.

Most cases of CVD is caused by reduced oxygen-rich blood inducing heart damage or the death of neurons in the brain.

In other words, if the reduced oxygen-rich blood flow occurs in the heart, it causes heart disease. On the other hand, if the reduced rich oxygen blood occurs in the brain, it causes a stroke.

Most cases of CVD in the Western world is coronary heart disease involved in plaque accumulated on the arterial wall due to unhealthy diet with high saturated and trans fat and lifestyle such as smoking accompanied by an overdose of the supplement of calcium.

According to the US statistics, from 2006 to 2016, the US death rate from CVD decreased by 18.6% and from coronary heart disease by 31.8%.

Believe it or not, CVD has caused a significant burden in the US health care system with the annual total cost at $351.2 billion in 2014-2015, with $213.8 billion in direct cost, including 46% for inpatient care.

Some researchers suggested that the increase of CVD, particularly in coronary heart disease at the alarming rate in the US, probably associated with the promotion of high-fat diet over the past few decades, accompanied by a sedentary lifestyle.

Dr. Jane E Freedman wrote, "Over the past two decades, significant progress has been made in the treatment of acute and chronic cardiovascular disease".

And, "According to the National Center for Health Statistics (1999), 61% of adults in the U.S. are overweight (body mass index [BMI] 25 to 29.9 kg/m2), and 26% are obese (BMI ≥30 kg/m2). Elevated BMI, particularly caused by abdominal or upper-body obesity, has been associated with diseases and metabolic abnormalities including hyperinsulinemia, insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and coronary heart disease".

Additonally, "Dietary intake of specific nutrients have been suggested as a means of modifying the progression of cardiovascular disease. One such example is the proposed use of foods rich in select vitamins or flavonoids. Epidemiologic studies have reported an inverse relationship between the total dietary intake of plant flavonoids and the incidence of cardiovascular disease".

In other words, if you follow the high-fat diet, you are at substantial risk of diseases associated with obesity, including CVD.

The cucumber plant is a species of Cucumis Sativus, belongs to the family Cucurbitaceae and native to Western Asia. It is a creeping vine with roots in the ground and grows up with the support of frames.

On finding a natural compound which has a potential effect on endothelium in the onset of cardiovascular diseases(CVD), researchers examined the water/ethanol extract of Cucumis sativus L. (CSE) fruit anti CVD activity.

The study included water/ethanol extract of Cucumis sativus L. (CSE) fruit effect in the attenuation the damaging effect of pro-inflammatory lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in vitro model of endothelial cells associated with the onset of CVD.

According to the tested assay, administration of CSE reduced LPS-induced cytotoxicity and decreased the cellular detachment, restoring the expression of tight junction ZO-1 in the contribution to barrier function.

In protein analysis, Cucumis sativus L. inhibited the early secretion of inflammatory IL-8 and Granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor (GM-CSF) and inflammatory cytokines IL-6 and IL-1α occurred late at 7 and 24 h respectively.

Additionally, in the prevention of the overexpression of pro-inflammatory cytokines, CSE stimulated the secretion of anti-inflammatory IL-10 and increased the production of IL-18 and IFN-γ in the modulation of the immune response.

Furthermore, according to the tested doses differentiation, the angiogenetic activity induced by inflammatory LPS was also prevented by the injection of Cucumis sativus L. extract.

Dr. wrote, at the end of the experiment, " Our results have clearly demonstrated that Cucumis sativus L. extract has attenuated lipopolysaccharide-induced inflammatory response in endothelial cells (associated with the risk of CVD)".

Moreover, also in vivo, extracted the compounds of Cucumis melo L. protected the impairment of the endothelial barrier associated with the risk CVD induced by intraperitoneal injection of a high dose of CuEC (2 mg/kg).

In other words, cucurbitacins at a higher dose can induce toxicity to the cells of endothelium, however, at the low doses, CuEC (1 mg/kg) can lead to a decline in systolic blood pressure (SBP) without causing toxicity in mice by suppressing the angiotensin II (Ang II)-induced SBP increase.

Interestingly, the efficacy of CuEC antihypertensive property was involved in facilitating acetylcholine-mediated vasodilation in mesenteric arteries of tested mice.

Researchers after taking into account of co and con-founders said, " In vitro studies showed that CuEC induced vasodilation in a dose-dependent manner in mesenteric arteries of both mice and rats. Pretreatment with CuEC inhibited phenylephrine-mediated vasoconstriction".

Taken altogether, cucumber and its bioactive compound cucurbitacin B (CuB) at the lower dose may be used for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases, pending to the confirmation of the larger sample size and multicenter human study.

Intake of CuB in the form of supplement should be taken with extreme care to prevent overdose acute liver toxicity.


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Author Biography
Kyle J. Norton (Scholar, Master of Nutrition, All right reserved)

Health article writer and researcher; Over 10.000 articles and research papers have been written and published online, including worldwide health, ezine articles, article base, health blogs, self-growth, best before it's news, the karate GB daily, etc.,.

Named TOP 50 MEDICAL ESSAYS FOR ARTISTS & AUTHORS TO READ by Disilgold.com Named 50 of the best health Tweeters Canada - Huffington Post

Nominated for shorty award over last 4 years

Some articles have been used as references in medical research, such as international journal Pharma and Bioscience, ISSN 0975-6299.





Sources

(1) Water/ethanol extract of Cucumis sativus L. fruit attenuates lipopolysaccharide-induced inflammatory response in endothelial cells by Bernardini C1, Zannoni A2, Bertocchi M2, Tubon I2, Fernandez M2, Forni M. (PubMed)

(2) Cucurbitacins extracted from Cucumis melo L. (CuEC) exert a hypotensive effect via regulating vascular tone Ru-Qiang Yuan, Lei Qian, Wei-Jing Yun, Xiao-Hui Cui, Guang-Xin Lv, Wei-Qi Tang, Ri-Chang Cao & Hu Xu. (Hypertensive Research)

(3) High-fat diets and cardiovascular disease. Are nutritional supplements useful? by Jane E Freedman. (Journal of the American College of Cardiology)