Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death worldwide, and hyperlipidemia is one of the most important risk factors for cardiovascular disease.
Hyperlipidemia refers to high plasma total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG) and low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDLC), and low high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDLC).
The level of blood lipid is closely related to dietary habits and the body's metabolic capacity. Reducing the intake of saturated fatty acids, trans fatty acids and dietary cholesterol and increasing the intake of hypidemic health food can help reduce blood lipid.
Studies have found that there are many functional components of food with lipid-lowering effects.
01 Dietary fiber
Dietary fiber is internationally recognized as the seventh nutrient. Studies show that soluble dietary fiber can prevent and treat cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Dietary fibers such as oats, apple pectin, cep and hydroxyethyl methyl cellulose all have the effect of lowering blood lipids.
The mechanism of reducing blood fat of dietary fiber mainly has: through reducing the generation of liver cholesterol, promote the transformation of liver cholesterol into bile acid and reduce the cholesterol in the liver. It can also regulate the activities of fatty acid oxidation-related enzymes, induce fatty acid oxidation, and reduce liver TG level.
02 Polysaccharide
Polysaccharides have been widely studied as a new source of dietary supplements and functional food ingredients. Studies have found that polysaccharides such as jujube polysaccharide, kelp polysaccharide, pumpkin polysaccharide, angelica polysaccharide, porphyra polysaccharide have the effect of lowering blood fat.
Active polysaccharides can reduce blood lipid by inhibiting cholesterol synthesis, blocking cholesterol hepatoenteric circulation and reducing plasma cholesterol content. It can also be achieved by regulating adipocyte differentiation, inhibiting the activity of enzymes related to fatty acid decomposition, promoting fatty acid oxidation, and eliminating excess free radicals in the body to inhibit lipid peroxidation.
03 Polyphenols
Polyphenols, also known as "plant tannins", include phenolic acids and flavonoids, which are mainly found in roots, skins, leaves and fruits of plants and have strong biological activity. Studies have found that pomegranate polyphenols, grape polyphenols, cocoa polyphenols, tea polyphenols and other polyphenols have the effect of lowering blood lipids.
04 Alkaloids
Alkaloids are nitrogenous basic organic compounds found in nature. Many studies have found that alkaloids have hypolipidemic effects.
Wu Hao et al. fed the golden hamster with 70.05mg/kg, and found that the body weight, TC, TG and LDL-C levels were significantly decreased, and HDL-C levels were significantly increased after 4 weeks. In addition, the content of bile acid in blood was significantly decreased, and the excretion of bile acid (TBA) in feces was increased.
05 Saponins
Saponins are widely found in plants and a small amount in Marine organisms such as starfish and sea cucumber. They play an important role in the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases and the lowering of blood lipid.
Saponins from Aubergine africana and Aralia taibaiensis have significant effects on lowering blood lipid and resisting lipid peroxidation.
Saponins can reduce the plasma cholesterol level by inhibiting the synthesis of liver cholesterol and increasing the outflow of plasma cholesterol. They can also regulate enzymes related to lipid metabolism and enhance the antioxidant capacity of lipids to play a lipid-lowering role.
06 Other
He Shan et al. found that deep-sea water contains a large number of minerals and trace elements that can lower blood lipid, mainly through the activation of AMP activated protein kinase to reduce the lipid content of liver cells, thereby inhibiting the synthesis of cholesterol and fatty acids. In addition, mRNA expressions of LDL receptors, SREBP-2 and CYP7A1 are upregulated, resulting in lower LDL levels and increased cholesterol efflux.
Rashid et al. fed high-fat diet rats with tocopherol (TRF) enriched from palm oil as dietary supplement. Compared with the control group, the levels of TC, TG and LDL-C and oxidized low-density lipoprotein were significantly reduced, thus inhibiting the occurrence of atherosclerosis.
Perilla oil is rich in α -linolenic acid, ZhangTao et al. found that compared with the control group, the rats fed with Perilla oil significantly reduced the levels of TC and TG, increased the mRNA expressions of PPAR-α and CPT1A in liver, and promoted the oxidation of liver fatty acids. The mRNA expressions of SREBP-1, FAS and ACC in serum were upregulated, and serum lipids were significantly decreased and liver fatty acid synthesis was inhibited.
