Effect of prickly pear cactus (Opuntina ficus-indica) intake on blood lipids, platelet aggregation, antioxidant and liver parameters in volunteer diving woman

Sun-Geum Han; Min-Sook Kang; Sung-Hee Ryou; Sung-Wok Hwang; Jung-Sook Kang

doi:10.4163/kjn.2012.45.5.462

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Han, Kang, Ryou, Hwang, and Kang: Effect of prickly pear cactus (Opuntina ficus-indica) intake on blood lipids, platelet aggregation, antioxidant and liver parameters in volunteer diving woman

Research Article

Korean Journal of Nutrition

Korean Journal of Nutrition 2012; 45(5): 462-469.

Published online: 31 October 2012

DOI: https://doi.org/10.4163/kjn.2012.45.5.462

Effect of prickly pear cactus (Opuntina ficus-indica) intake on blood lipids, platelet aggregation, antioxidant and liver parameters in volunteer diving woman

Sun-Geum Han¹, Min-Sook Kang¹, Sung-Hee Ryou¹, Sung-Wok Hwang², Jung-Sook Kang¹

¹Department Foods & Nutrition, Jeju National University, Jeju 690-756, Korea.

²Department Family Medicine, Jeju National University Hospital, Jeju 690-767, Korea.

To whom correspondence should be addressed. (jungkang@jejunu.ac.kr)

Received 4 September 2012 Revised 24 September 2012 Accepted 28 September 2012

(open-access):

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

We investigated dietary effects of prickly pear cactus (Opuntina ficus-indica) on plasma lipids, platelet aggregation (PA), hemolysis, plasma TBARS and liver enzymes. Twenty eight volunteer diving women in Jeju island had daily 20 g cactus tea containing 27% prickly pear cactus (PPC) powder for 4 weeks, and data for the study subjects were analyzed, on the basis of diagnostic criteria for blood pressure (BP)(≥ 140/90 mmHg), plasma cholesterol (≥ 200 mg/dL) and triglyceride (≥ 150 mg/dL). The subjects with higher BP had higher plasma total cholesterol (TC) and triglyceride (TG) concentrations than those with normal BP. Those with higher TC also had higher TG. Subjects with normal BP or normal TC had higher initial slope of PA than their higher counterpart in BP and TC. PPC intake decreased plasma TG in those with higher BP. PPC intake significantly decreased the elevated initial slope in groups with normal BP, TC, and TG. Hemolysis after PPC intake decreased significantly in all the subjects and plasma TBARS decreased in the subjects with higher plasma TC and higher TG. Glutamic-oxaloacetic transaminase (GOT) significantly increased and total bilirubin significantly decreased in all the subjects after PPC intake. The present study with diving women showed that beneficial effects of short term intake of prickly pear cactus might differ depending on the subject conditions in term of blood pressure, and plasma lipids. However, long term usage of prickly pear cactus may provide preventive effects of cardiovascular diseases to all the population, presumably by hypolipidemic, antithrombotic, and antioxidant actions of its bioactive flavonoids and soluble fiber.

Keywords: prickly pear cactus, hypolipidemic, antithrombotic, antioxidant, women

Figures and Tables

Fig. 1

Comparison of plasma lipids before and after prickly pear cactus intake based on diagnostic criteria for blood pressure (BP), total-cholesterol (T-chol), and triglyceride (TG). ^*: p < 0.05.

Fig. 2

Comparison of hernatocrit and platelet aggregation before and after prickly pear cactus intake based on diagnostic criteria for blood pressure (BP), total-cholesterol (T-chol), and triglyceride (TG). ^*: p < 0.05, ^**: p < 0.01.

Fig. 3

Comparison of hemolysis and plasma TBARS before and after prickly pear cactus intake based on diagnostic criteria for blood pressure (BP), total-cholesterol (T-chol), and triglyceride (TG). ^*: p < 0.05, ^**: p < 0.01.

Fig. 4

Comparison of plasma GOT, GPT, alkaline phosphatase, and T-bilirubin before and after prickly pear cactus intake based on diagnostic criteria for blood pressure (BP), total-cholesterol (T-chol), and triglyceride (TG). ^*: p < 0.05, ^**: p < 0.01.

Table 1

Comparison of clinical data based on diagnostic criteria for blood pressure, plasma T-cholesterol and triglyceride before prickly pear cactus intake

1) Initial slope of platelet aggregation expressed as % increase in light transmission for the first one minute of aggregation 2) Maxinum platelet aggregation expressed as % light transmission at the point where aggregates dissociated 3) Hemolysis (%) measured after 6 hours incubation in phosphate buffered saline

^*: p < 0.05, ^**: p < 0.01, ^***: p < 0.001 by Student's t-test

Table 2

Plasma lipids, hematologic parameters, platelet aggregation and pathological indices of the study subjects before and after prickly pear cactus intake

1) % increase in light transmission for the first one minute of aggregation 2) % light transmission at the point where aggregates dissociated Mean ± SE for 28 participants

^**: p < 0.01, ^***: p < 0.001 by Student's t-test

Notes

This is a partial work supported by the Korea Research Grant (R05-2001-000-00718-0).

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