A study presented at the American Chemical Society Meeting and Exposition on March 26 in Atlanta found that men and women with the cluster of cardiovascular disease risk factors known as metabolic syndrome experienced a reduction in blood pressure after consuming grape seed extract. The trial was the first to assess grape seed's effect metabolic syndrome patients. The finding will also be reported on April 2 at the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology's 2006 meeting which will be held in San Francisco.

Cardiovascular researchers at the University of California, Davis divided 24 male and female metabolic syndrome patients into three groups of eight subjects each. One group was given a placebo, while the second and third groups received 150 and 300 milligrams of a grape seed extract for one month. Blood pressure was automatically measured and recorded for twelve 12 hours following ingestion.

"Participants in the two groups receiving grape seed extract experienced an equal degree of reduced blood pressure," reported lead researcher and professor of cardiovascular medicine at UC Davis, C. Tissa Kappagoda. "The average drop in systolic pressure was 12 millimeters. The average drop in diastolic pressure was 8 millimeters."

Additionally, participants who received the higher dose of grape seed extract experienced a reduction in serum oxidized low density lipoprotein cholesterol levels. "Generally, the higher their initial oxidized LDL level was, the greater the drop by the end of the study," Dr Kappagoda noted.

Dr Kappagoda's team previously found that grape seed extract helped prevent atherosclerosis in an animal model of the disease. A second placebo-controlled clinical trial has begun at UC Davis to determine the benefits of grape seed extract on patients with prehypertension.

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