Influence of long-term consumption of bitter apricot seeds on risk factors for cardiovascular diseases
ABSTRACT The present study was designed to reveal whether long-term consumption of bitter apricot seeds causes changes in lipid profile and other risk factors for cardiovascular diseases. The study group consisted of 12 healthy adult volunteers (5 females and 7 males). The average age of women was 41.60 ± 11.28 years and the average age of men was 36.71 ± 13.70 years. Volunteers consumed 60 mg kg−1 of body weight of bitter apricot seeds divided into 8–12 doses daily for 12 weeks. Volunteers were recruited from the general population of Slovak Republic. After 12 weeks, mean body weight of the participants increased from 77.34 to 78.22 kg (P > 0.05). The average total cholesterol levels decreased from 4.86 mmol L−1 at the beginning of the study to 4.44 mmol L−1 at the end of the study (P < 0.05). We did not observe any significant increase in high-density cholesterol (from 1.55 to 1.60 mmol L−1). The average low-density cholesterol levels decreased from 2.93 mmol L−1 at the beginning of the study to 2.31 mmol L−1 at the end of the study (P < 0.001). Concentration of triglycerides increased significantly over the 12-week intervention period from 0.84 to 1.17 mmol L−1. After the intervention, the high-sensitivity C-reactive protein level decreased from 1.92 to 1.23 mg L−1, but results were non-significant (P > 0.05). Creatine kinase serum levels increased from 2.31 to 2.77 mg L−1 (P > 0.05) over the 12-week intervention period. The results suggest that regular intake of bitter apricot seeds may be considered potentially useful for prevention of cardiovascular diseases.