Spices and Atherosclerosis
1
Graduate Institute of Life Sciences, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei 11490, Taiwan
2
Division of Cardiology, Department of Medicine, Tri-Service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center, Taipei 11490, Taiwan
3
Institute of Cellular and System Medicine, National Health Research Institute, Zhunan 35053, Taiwan
4
Division of Allergy, Immunology and Rheumatology, Department of Internal Medicine, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Chang Gung University, Tao-Yuan 33305, Taiwan
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
†
These authors contributed equally to this work.
Nutrients 2018, 10(11), 1724; https://doi.org/10.3390/nu10111724
Received: 24 October 2018 / Revised: 6 November 2018 / Accepted: 7 November 2018 / Published: 10 November 2018
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Nutrients and Atherosclerosis)
Cardiovascular disease is one of the leading causes of death and disability in the world. Atherosclerosis, characterized by lipid accumulation and chronic inflammation in the vessel wall, is the main feature of cardiovascular disease. Although the amounts of fruits and vegetables present in the diets vary by country, diets, worldwide, contain large amounts of spices; this may have positive or negative effects on the initiation and development of atherosclerosis. In this review, we focused on the potential protective effects of specific nutrients from spices, such as pepper, ginger, garlic, onion, cinnamon and chili, in atherosclerosis and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. The mechanisms, epidemiological analysis, and clinical studies focusing on a variety of spices are covered in this review. Based on the integrated information, we aimed to raise specific recommendations for people with different dietary styles for the prevention of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease through dietary habit adjustments.