Acute Effect of Herbs and Spices Intake on Endothelial Function and Metabolic Markers in Overweight or Obese Adults

• Published in: Current developments in nutrition Vol. 5; no. Supplement_2; p. 324
• Main Authors: Huang, Yudai, Tsai, Meng-Fu, Thorat, Rajrajeshwari, Xiao, Di, Zhang, Xuhuiqun, Sandhu, Amandeep, Edirisinghe, Indika, Burton-Freeman, Britt
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Inc 01.06.2021; Oxford University Press
• Subjects: Dietary Bioactive Components; Glucose; Herbs; Meals; Metabolism; Metabolites; Obesity; Overweight; Spices
• ISSN: 2475-2991; 2475-2991
• DOI: 10.1093/cdn/nzab037_034

Herbs and Spices (H/S) contain an array of bioactive compounds with purported health benefits. This study investigated the effect of acute H/S intake on vascular and metabolic health indicators, including flow-mediated vasodilation (FMD), glucose control and inflammatory markers over 24 h in overweight or obese individuals. In this randomized, single-blinded, 4-arm, 24-h, crossover clinical trial, subjects (n = 25, age 37 ± 15 years, BMI 28.5 ± 2.8 kg/m2, mean ± SD) consumed a high-fat and high-carbohydrate (HFHC) challenge meal (about 810 kcal) without (control) or with three different combinations of commercially-available H/S: Italian herbs (rosemary, basil, thyme, oregano, and parsley), cinnamon, or pumpkin pie spice (cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice) on four separate days at least three days apart. Meals provided 35% of subjects energy to maintain weight and 1 g H/S per 135 kcal. FMD and blood samples were collected at 0, 2, 4, 5.5, 7, and 24 h for endpoint analysis (additional blood samples at 0.5 and 1 h for insulin/glucose). Mixed-model analysis of repeated measures via PROC MIXED PC-SAS 9.4 was performed on primary and secondary outcome variables. FMD was the primary outcome. The addition of H/S in HFHC meals significantly reduced postprandial insulin concentrations over 7 h compared to control (P = 0.03) with no significant decrease in glucose (P = 0.17) compared to the control meal. A significant interaction between H/S and age (P = 0.003) suggested benefits of H/S on insulinemia in individuals 41–65 years. Preliminary analysis showed significant effects of test meal (P < 0.05) on plasma interleukin-6 (IL-6). FMD assessment revealed increased %FMD 24 h after H/S consumption compared to the control meal (P = 0.04), suggesting a possible effect of gut microbial-derived H/S bioactive metabolites, which is under study. This study demonstrated the vascular and metabolic effects of meals differing in herbs and spices. Herbs and spices may improve vascular function after 24 h consumption and have different potencies on metabolic indices in different age groups in overweight or obese individuals. This project was funded by McCormick Science Institute.