AUTHOR=Huang Yudai , Tsai Meng-Fu , Thorat Rajrajeshwari Sunil , Xiao Di , Zhang Xuhuiqun , Sandhu Amandeep K. , Edirisinghe Indika , Burton-Freeman Britt M. 

TITLE=Endothelial Function and Postprandial Glucose Control in Response to Test-Meals Containing Herbs and Spices in Adults With Overweight/Obesity

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Nutrition

VOLUME=9

YEAR=2022

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/nutrition/articles/10.3389/fnut.2022.811433

DOI=10.3389/fnut.2022.811433

ISSN=2296-861X

ABSTRACT=<sec><title>Objectives</title><p>Herbs and Spices (H/S) contain bioactive compounds with purported health benefits. This study investigated the effect of H/S intake on indicators of vascular and metabolic health over 24 h using a test-meal challenge paradigm in adults with overweight or obesity.</p></sec><sec><title>Methods</title><p>In a randomized, single-blinded, 4-arm, 24 h, multi-sampling, crossover clinical trial, adults (<italic>n</italic> = 25) aged 36.6 ± 3.1 years with BMI 28.5 ± 0.6 kg/m<sup>2</sup> (mean ± SEM) consumed a high-fat, high-carbohydrate challenge meal (~810 kcal) with salt/pepper only (control) or control with one of three different H/S combinations: Italian herb (rosemary, basil, thyme, oregano, and parsley), cinnamon, or pumpkin pie spice mix (cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice) on four separate visits at least 3 days apart. Meals provided 35% of subjects' energy to maintain weight and ~1 g H/S per 135 kcal of the meal. Flow-mediated dilation (FMD) and blood samples were collected at 0, 1, 2, 4, 5.5, 7, and 24 h for endpoint analysis (additional blood draw at 0.5 h for insulin/glucose). Mixed-model analysis of repeated measures via PROC MIXED PC-SAS 9.4 was performed on the primary outcome (FMD) and secondary outcome variables. This study was registered at <ext-link ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="https://ClinicalTrials.gov" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">ClinicalTrials.gov</ext-link> (NCT03926442).</p></sec><sec><title>Results</title><p>Italian herb and pumpkin spice meals significantly increased %FMD at 24 h compared to the control meal (<italic>P</italic> = 0.048 and <italic>P</italic> = 0.027, respectively). The cinnamon meal reduced postprandial glycemia (Δ) compared to control (<italic>P</italic> = 0.01), and pumpkin pie spice mix and cinnamon meals reduced postprandial insulin at 0.5 h compared to the control meal (<italic>P</italic> = 0.01 and <italic>P</italic> = 0.04, respectively). IL-6 and triglycerides increased in response to all meals (Time, <italic>P</italic> &lt; 0.0001) but were not significantly different between meals.</p></sec><sec><title>Conclusions</title><p>The test-meal challenge study design coupled with multiple sampling over 24 h provides insights into time-course bioactivity of H/S on vascular function and metabolic indices in overweight/obese adults.</p></sec><sec><title>Clinical Trial Registration</title><p><ext-link ext-link-type="uri" xlink:href="https://ClinicalTrials.gov" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">ClinicalTrials.gov</ext-link>, identifier: NCT03926442.</p></sec>