Grape seed given hypertension thumbs up: Unpublished data

18-Sep-2013 - Last updated on 19-Sep-2013 at 11:43 GMT

Researchers say new grape seed procyanidins (GSP) product is effective in reducing hypertension alongside lifestyle factors

Researchers say that Indena’s new grape seed procyanidins (GSP) product – now only using water as extraction solvent – is effective in blood pressure management when coupled with lifestyle factors.

Enovitais a proprietary proanthocyanidin (OPC’s) rich extract, a natural antioxidant and capillarotropic, made exclusively with grape seeds from white wine production.

Study details

The researchers at Gabriele D’Annunzio University Chieti-Pescara in Italy used Indena’s product Enovita in their four month trial in which 119 otherwise healthy pre- and mildly hypertensive participants were split across three groups.

This trial was longer than two previous studies which cited GSP’s potential for hypertension reduction. These studies took place over a four week period, an important distinction since this latest study saw that blood pressure normalisation started to be higher in the GSP supplementation groups around the fourth week of the trials.

Group 1 (37 subjects) and Group 2 (35 subjects) supplemented a non-drug management plan with Enovita at two different daily dosages (300 mg/day for Group 1 and 150 mg/day for Group 2), while in the control Group 3 (47 subjects) only the management plan was implemented.

The nondrug intervention comprised of adjustments to diet (reduction in salt, alcohol and caffeinated drinks) and lifestyle (regular exercise, getting more sleep and relaxation time and reduction of smoke). No other nutritional elements, vitamins or drugs were used in the observation period.

Dr. Gianni Belcaro, who headed the Gabriele D’Annunzio University Chieti-Pescara study, said: “Taken together, our data suggest that GSPs, at least in the profile associated to Indena’s Enovita, are worth considering to complement dietary and lifestyle changes associated to the maintenance of a healthy blood pressure status, with beneficial cardiovascular effect”.

New solvent process opens up markets

Indena hopes this latest product will open up new markets like Japan, previously inaccessible due to regulations regarding the solvent process, explained Christian Artaria, marketing director and head of functional food development at Indena.

This new process means that the product will be “suitable worldwide,” said Artaria.

“The interest was to see whether this new extraction process had had an affect,” he told NutraIngredients.

Source: Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine

Vol. 2013, pp. 1-5, doi: 10.1210/jc.2013-1698
“Grape Seed Procyanidins in Pre- and Mild Hypertension: A Registry Study”
Authors: G. Belcaro, A. Ledda, S. Hu, M.R Cesarone, B. Feragalli and M. Dugall