Abstract

Natural products have been attracting increasing attention in human diet, both due to the possible negative effects of synthetic food additives on human health and the increased consumer perception. Apricot seeds contain a wide variety of bioactive components and their consumption is associated with a reduced risk of chronic diseases. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the effect of consumption of bitter apricot seeds on blood lipid and endocrine profile in Slovak women (n = 18, 41.60 ± 11.28 years) of reproductive age. Volunteers consumed 60 mg.kg⁻¹ of body weight of bitter apricot seeds divided into 8-12 doses daily for 42 days. During the experiment, three blood collections were carried out (at the beginning of the experiment - day 0, and after 21 and 42 days of consumption apricot seeds). Lipid profile was measured in terms of – total cholesterol (T-C, enzymatic photometric method), low-density cholesterol (LDL-C, calculated using the Friedewald equation), high-density cholesterol (HDL-C, direct clearance method), triglycerides (TG, enzymatic colorimetric method) whereas endocrine profile - follicle stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinizing hormone (LH), prolactin (PRL), progesterone (P4), 17β-estradiol (E2), testosterone, and androstenedione was assessed by ELISA. The blood levels of T-C, HDL-C and T-C did not change significantly (P > 0.05), however, the level of LDL-C decreased significantly (P < 0.05) after 42 days. On the other hand, there was a significant (P < 0.05) increase of T-C and TG after 21 days. The blood level of FSH, testosterone and androstenedione increased significantly (P < 0.05) although the levels of LH, PRL, P4 and E2 did not change (P > 0.05) after 42 days. The level of PRL and testosterone significantly (P < 0.05) increased and E2 significantly decreased after 21 days of apricot seeds consumption. The study suggests that daily consumption of apricot seeds may affect plasma lipid and endocrine profile in women of reproductive age.

摘要

由于合成食品添加剂对人体健康可能产生的负面影响以及消费者的认知度提高，天然产品已在人类饮食中引起越来越多的关注。杏种子含有多种生物活性成分，其食用与降低慢性病风险有关。本研究的目的是评估食用苦杏仁种子对斯洛伐克育龄妇女（n = 18、41.60±11.28岁）的血脂和内分泌特征的影响。志愿者消耗了60 mg.kg ^-1苦杏仁种子的体重分为每天8-12剂，每天持续42天。在实验过程中，进行了三次采血（在实验开始时-第0天，以及食用杏子21天和42天后）。根据总胆固醇（TC，酶促光度法），低密度胆固醇（LDL-C，使用Friedewald方程计算），高密度胆固醇（HDL-C，直接清除法），甘油三酸酯（ TG，酶比色法），而内分泌特征-卵泡刺激素（FSH），黄体生成素（LH），催乳素（PRL），孕酮（P4），17β-雌二醇（E2），睾丸激素和雄烯二酮被评估。TC，HDL-C和TC的血液水平没有明显变化（P  > 0.05），但是LDL-C的水平在42天后显着下降（P <0.05）。另一方面，21天后TC和TG显着增加（P <0.05）。尽管LH，PRL，P4和E2的水平 在42天后没有变化（P > 0.05），但FSH，睾丸激素和雄烯二酮的血液水平却显着增加（P <0.05）  。食用杏籽21天后，PRL和睾丸激素水平显着增加（P <0.05），E2显着下降。研究表明，每天食用杏子可能会影响育龄妇女的血脂和内分泌状况。