Antioxidant Alliin, The Natural Cardio-Protective Compound

By Kyle J. Norton

The cardioprotective effect is an action including the use of substances such as herbal medicine for the prevention of heart damage.

In other words, substances that processed the activity to protect the heart functioning are considered heart protective agents.

Cardiovascular disease is the diseases associated with blood vessels and the heart. Plaque accumulated on the wall of the artery that causes blockage and reduced blood flow to the heart has been found to induce CVD in many instances, depending on the affected location.

For example, reduced blood flow to the brain can lead to stroke involved in the death of neurons and reduced oxygen-rich blood flow can lead to heart disease involved in heart muscles damage.

In the Western world, due to the promotion of high fat diet-induced over 68% of overweight and obese population in the US, maybe the culprit that causes the rise of cardiovascular disease in the recent year.

Dr. Frank M. Sacks, the lead scientist wrote, " Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading global cause of death, accounting for 17.3 million deaths per year. Preventive treatment that reduces CVD by even a small percentage can substantially reduce, nationally and globally, the number of people who develop CVD and the costs of caring for them".

And, "This American Heart Association presidential advisory on dietary fats and CVD reviews and discusses the scientific evidence, including the most recent studies, on the effects of dietary saturated fat intake and its replacement by other types of fats and carbohydrates on CVD".

The findings strongly suggested following the healthy diet with a higher amount of fruits and vegetable that replace the harmful fats and carbohydrates with moderate exercise, cardiovascular disease is preventable.

Alliin (S-allyl-L-cysteine-S-oxide) is a phytochemical compound sulfoxide,. a derivative of the amino acid cysteine, belonging to the class of sulfur compounds, found abundantly in fresh garlic and onion.

On finding a natural ingredient which processes cardioprotective property, researchers examined the synthetic form of S-ally-mercapto captopril (CPSSA), a new stable synthetic compound produced by a chemical reaction between allicin and the angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor captopril.

On fructose-induced metabolic syndrome rat model, alliin at 8 mg/kg-day exerted a significant cardioprotective effect by reducing insulin, triglycerides, and homocysteine concentrations.

However, the injection of the same dose had only a slight effect on SBP compared to Captopril (50mg/(kg day)) with only an improvement of blood pressure and homocysteine.

Compared to the treatment with a low dose of CPSSA (5mg/(kg day)) that lowered SBP but did not improve any other measured parameter, a higher dose (50mg/(kg day)) showed a significantly decreased blood pressure, triglycerides, and homocysteine concentrations.

In other words, alliin protected the cardiovascular system in a dose-dependent manner.

Based on the results, researchers said, "the combined molecule CPSSA integrates the anti-hypertensive, lipid-lowering, and homocysteine-reducing effects of both allicin and captopril, making it a potential cardiovascular protective agent".

In order to know more information about alliin cardioprotective activity, researchers looked into eval the capacity of Allium ursinum (wild garlic) leaf lyophilisate (WGLL; alliin content: 0.261%) in cardiovascular damage in hypercholesterolemic rabbits.

The study included New Zealand rabbits divided into three groups: (i) cholesterol-free rabbit chow (control); (ii) rabbit chow containing 2% cholesterol (hypercholesterolemic, HC); (iii) rabbit chow containing 2% cholesterol + 2% WGLL (hypercholesterolemic treated, HCT); for eight weeks.

According to the tested assays, WGLL treatment demonstrated a cardioprotective activity by mediating the increases in fractional shortening, right ventricular function, peak systolic velocity, tricuspidal annular systolic velocity in live animals.

The levels of a protein associated with the generation of antioxidants (heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1)) were increased in HO-1 protein accompanied by a decrease in superoxide dismutase 1(SOD1).

Furthermore, levels of plaques associated with atherosclerosis, plasma ApoB involved in levels of cholesterol and the activity of LDH and CK (creatine kinase) were decreased in the treated rat's group.

Collectively, researchers said, "WGLL has complex cardioprotective effects, suggesting future strategies for its use in prevention and therapy for atherosclerotic disorders".

Taken altogether, alliin may be considered supplements for cardioprotection, pending to the confirmation of the larger sample size and multicenter human study.

Intake of alliin 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) The effects of S-allylmercaptocaptopril, the synthetic product of allicin and captopril, on cardiovascular risk factors associated with the metabolic syndrome by Oron-Herman M1, Rosenthal T, Mirelman D, Miron T, Rabinkov A, Wilchek M, Sela BA. (PubMed)
(2) Anti-Atherogenic Properties of Allium ursinum Liophylisate: Impact on Lipoprotein Homeostasis and Cardiac Biomarkers in Hypercholesterolemic Rabbits by Bombicz M1,2, Priksz D3,4, Varga B5,6, Gesztelyi R7, Kertesz A8, Lengyel P9, Balogh P10, Csupor D11, Hohmann J12, Bhattoa HP13, Haines DD14, Juhasz B. (PubMed)
(3) Dietary Fats and Cardiovascular Disease: A Presidential Advisory From the American Heart Association by Frank M. Sacks, Alice H. Lichtenstein, Jason H.Y. Wu, Lawrence J. Appel, Mark A. Creager, Penny M. Kris-Etherton, Michael Miller, Eric B. Rimm, Lawrence L. Rudel, Jennifer G. Robinson. (Circulation)