Ramadan fasting ameliorates arterial pulse pressure and lipid profile, and alleviates oxidative stress in hypertensive patients.
OBJECTIVE
Effects of Ramadan fasting on health are important. Its effects on arterial pulse pressure (PP), lipid profile and oxidative stress were characterized in hypertensives.


METHODS
PP, indices of lipid profile and oxidative stress were measured pre-, during and post-fasting in equal (40 each), sex- and age-matched groups (age 55 ± 5 years) of hypertensives (HT) and controls (C).


RESULTS
Fasting reduced PP significantly by 17.2% and insignificantly by 9.3% in the HT and C groups, respectively. Total cholesterol (TC) was lowered insignificantly by 11.7% and 4.7% in the HT and C patients, respectively. Triglycerides (TG) and malondialdehyde (MDA) were significantly lowered by: TG: 24.5% and 22.8%; MDA: 45.6% and 54.3%; while glutathione (GSH) elevated by 56.8% and 52.6% in the HT and C groups, respectively. High-density lipoproteins (HDL) were raised significantly by 33.3% and insignificantly by 6.7%, whereas low-density lipoproteins (LDL) decreased significantly by 17.7% and insignificantly by 4.0% in the HT and C groups, respectively. At 6 weeks post-fasting, MDA remained significantly lower than the pre-fasting level by 24.3% and 25.7%, and GSH higher by 30.2% and 26.3% in the HT and C groups, respectively, while PP and TC returned to pre-fasting values in both groups. The post-fasting, HDL was significantly higher by 20.3% and LDL lower by 12.0% than the fasting levels in the HT patients.


CONCLUSIONS
Fasting improves PP and lipids profile and ameliorates oxidative stress in hypertensives.
Department of Physiology, College of Medicine, Al-Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University (IMSIU) , Riyadh , Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
Ahmad I M
AI
Al-Shafei
D001794:Blood Pressure / Q000502:physiology*; D002784:Cholesterol / Q000097:blood; D005215:Fasting / Q000097:blood / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005978:Glutathione / Q000097:blood; D006693:Holidays; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000097:blood / Q000517:prevention & control*; D007514:Islam; D008075:Lipoproteins, HDL / Q000097:blood; D008077:Lipoproteins, LDL / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D008315:Malondialdehyde / Q000097:blood; D008875:Middle Aged; D018384:Oxidative Stress / Q000502:physiology*; D014280:Triglycerides / Q000097:blood
D008075:Lipoproteins, HDL; D008077:Lipoproteins, LDL; D014280:Triglycerides; D008315:Malondialdehyde; D002784:Cholesterol; D005978:Glutathione
Hypertension; Ramadan fasting; lipids; oxidative stress; pulse pressure