Coconut Oil Supplementation Does Not Affect Blood Pressure Variability and Oxidative Stress: A Placebo-Controlled Clinical Study in Stage-1 Hypertensive Patients

• Published in: Nutrients Vol. 13; no. 3; p. 798
• Main Authors: Júnior, Francisco A O, Ruiz, Clara R, de Oliveira, Yohanna, Barros, Marco A V, Silva, Alexandre S, Santos, Maria S B, Martins, Vinícius J B, Balarini, Camille M, Braga, Valdir A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 28.02.2021; MDPI
• Subjects: Adult; Antihypertensive Agents; Antihypertensives; Blood pressure; Blood Pressure - drug effects; Blood Pressure Monitoring, Ambulatory; Cardiovascular system; Cholesterol; Clinical trials; Coconut oil; Coconut Oil - administration & dosage; Diet; Dietary Supplements; Edible oils; Exercise; Fatty acids; Female; Heart rate; Humans; Hypertension; Hypertension - drug therapy; Hypertension - physiopathology; Lauric acid; Male; Malondialdehyde; Malondialdehyde - blood; Middle Aged; Nutrition assessment; Nutrition research; nutritional approach; Oxidative stress; Oxidative Stress - drug effects; Patients; Physical training; Placebos; Pressure effects; Standard deviation; Brazil; cardiovascular system; hypertension; coconut oil; nutritional approach
• ISSN: 2072-6643; 2072-6643
• DOI: 10.3390/nu13030798

Exploring an alternative to improve the clinical management of hypertension, we tested the hypothesis that food supplementation with coconut oil (EVCO), alone or combined with aerobic exercise training, could exert an antihypertensive effect (primary outcome) in patients with stage 1 hypertension. Forty-five hypertensive volunteers of both genders participated in a placebo-controlled clinical trial. The volunteers were submitted to 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring, analysis of blood pressure variability (BPV), measurement of serum malondialdehyde (MDA) and nutritional assessment. Results indicate that EVCO consumption had no adverse effects. The supplementation did not increase the caloric intake compared with placebo, and the dietary constituents were similar between groups, except for the saturated fats, especially lauric acid. The analysis of blood pressure indicated absence of antihypertensive effect of EVCO alone or combined with physical training. Furthermore, no effects on blood pressure variability and oxidative stress were observed in the supplemented hypertensive patients. Thus, despite the results observed in pre-clinical studies, the current clinical study did not provide evidence to support the use of coconut oil as an adjuvant in the management of hypertension in humans.