title: Flavonoids and arterial stiffness: promising perspectives.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Flavonoids are a group of polyphenol compounds, ubiquitously found in plants. Great emphasis has been given to their possible benefits for cardiovascular health. These beneficial effects may be mediated by a specific action on arterial walls. Arterial stiffness is a marker of vascular aging, increasingly used in the clinical setting and assessed by pulse wave velocity. It has shown to be a robust predictor of cardiovascular events and mortality. This review aims at providing a comprehensive evaluation of available intervention and observational studies examining the relationship between flavonoid consumption and arterial stiffness.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A Medline(®) literature search was performed using the keywords "arterial stiffness" and "flavonoids". As a result, 2 cross-sectional and 16 intervention studies assessing the relationship between flavonoids intake and arterial stiffness were retained. Four intervention trials reported a significant decrease of arterial stiffness after a flavonoid-based intervention, independently from blood pressure changes. The two observational studies reported significant associations between a higher flavonoid consumption and a lower arterial stiffness. In this review, isoflavones, anthocyanins and to a lesser extent cocoa flavan-3-ols appeared to be the more efficient to improve vascular function.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Despite their heterogeneity, preliminary data seem to support an improvement of the arterial stiffness related to flavonoid intake. However, further research on absorption and dose-response effects of the specific flavonoid subclasses on arterial structure is warranted.
authors.affiliation: Gérontopôle, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Toulouse, France; Service de Gériatrie, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Bichat, Paris, France. Electronic address: mlilamand@hotmail.fr.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lilamand
authors.affiliation: Gérontopôle, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Toulouse, France.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kelaiditi
authors.affiliation: Gérontopôle, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Toulouse, France; INSERM UMR 1027, Toulouse, France.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Guyonnet
authors.affiliation: Geriatria, Università Campus Bio-Medico, Roma, Italy.
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Antonelli Incalzi
authors.affiliation: Service de Gériatrie, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Bichat, Paris, France.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Raynaud-Simon
authors.affiliation: Gérontopôle, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Toulouse, France; INSERM UMR 1027, Toulouse, France; Université de Toulouse III Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Vellas
authors.affiliation: Gérontopôle, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Toulouse, France; INSERM UMR 1027, Toulouse, France; Université de Toulouse III Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cesari
mesh_terms: D001011:Aorta / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D002099:Cacao / Q000737:chemistry; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000517:prevention & control; D005419:Flavonoids / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006801:Humans; D064887:Observational Studies as Topic; D063177:Pulse Wave Analysis; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D012307:Risk Factors; D059289:Vascular Stiffness / Q000187:drug effects*
chemical_list: D005419:Flavonoids
keywords: Arterial stiffness; Cardiovascular diseases; Flavonoids; Wave reflection