June 14, 2023
Cardiovascular disease is a severe health problem and one of the leading causes of death globally. The primary causes of cardiovascular disease include unhealthy diet and insufficient physical activity. The gut micro biota and its metabolites are strongly associated with dietary intake and have recently been identified as an emerging risk factor for cardiovascular disease. High animal-protein consumption is a primary inducer of cardiovascular disease risk factors and is associated with cardiovascular disease. Obesity is strongly linked to cardiovascular disease.
Preventive medicine is the practice of promoting preventive health care to avert disease development. Several foods and herbs can alleviate the progression of cardiovascular disease and atherosclerosis. Ginger is a herbal dietary component with potential benefits against CVD, including reducing total blood cholesterol and pro-inflammatory cytokine levels and improving insulin resistance. Ginger essential oil, the volatile oil obtained from fresh ginger, can reduce plasmas levels of total cholesterol and total triglycerides and insulin in HFD-induced obese mice. Citral, a primary component of ginger essential oil, has been shown to exert anti-obesity effect. Oral administration of ginger essential oil CT citral (31.0%), or isolated citral, reduced the formation of atherosclerotic lesions, improved lipid profiles, reduced blood sugar, improved insulin resistance, diminished pro-inflammatory cytokines (especially IL-1beta), and reduced TMAO levels. The oil also improved gut microbiome diversity, increasing the abundance of beneficial microbes and decreasing the abundance of microbes associated with cardiovascular disease. Altogether, these results suggest that ginger and citral are promising natural solutions to reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease and can improve gut dysbiosis.