New Insights into Artichoke Cardiovascular Benefits

Cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) continue to be the main causes of death in modern societies and are strictly connected with nutritional factors such as excessive saturated fat consumption. An unhealthy diet, infact, is directly linked with the raising up of the so-called “intermediate risk-factors” which include lipid and glucose dismetabolism, overweight, high blood pressure. The evaluation of WHO epidemiological data clearly show marked differences in CVDs mortality among countries and regions with a particular positive trend associated with Mediterranean diet habits

The artichoke, Cynara scolymus L., is one of the earliest crops cultivated by man in the Mediterranean area. First discovered in northern Africa, was widely used by ancient Greeks and Romans. Today the artichoke is not only an edible vegetable of great value (some 460,000 tons/year of artichokes for food are grown in Italy), but is also used in the preparation of herbal medicinal drugs that are utilized as antydispeptics, choleretics and cholagogues. More recently, the total and LDL-cholesterol-lowering effects of artichoke leaf extract have been demonstrated in animal models as well as in humans. Interestingly, a very recent double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial in subjects with primary mild hypercholesterolemia has evidenced a unique effect of a highly standardized artichoke leaf extract (Pycrinil®) in increasing HDL-cholesterol enlarging the potential health benefits of this precious plant.