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Nutrition and Disease

Daily Consumption for Six Weeks of a Lignan Complex Isolated from Flaxseed Does Not Affect Endothelial Function in Healthy Postmenopausal Women^1,2

³ Department of Human Nutrition, Centre for Advanced Food Studies, The Royal Veterinary and Agricultural University, Frederiksberg, Denmark; ⁴ Department of Nutrition, the Danish Institute for Food and Veterinary Research, Søborg, Denmark; ⁵ Human Nutrition Unit, National Institute for Research on Food and Nutrition, Rome, Italy; ⁶ Department of Clinical Chemistry, VU University Medical Center, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; ⁷ Department of Clinical Physiology, Nuclear Medicine and PET, Rigshospitalet, Denmark; and ⁸ Department of Clinical Physiology and Nuclear Medicine, Frederiksberg University Hospital, Frederiksberg, Denmark

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: jeha{at}kvl.dk.

The occurrence of menopause is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular events, and this has partly been attributed to the decline in circulating levels of estrogen. A lignan complex rich in the plant lignan secoisolariciresinol diglucoside (SDG) was isolated from flaxseed. SDG is metabolized by the colonic microflora to the mammalian lignans enterodiol and enterolactone and is hypothesized to be cardioprotective due to their structural similarity to estrogen. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of a lignan complex, providing 500 mg/d of SDG, on markers of endothelial function. Healthy postmenopausal women (n = 22) completed a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study. Women consumed daily a low-fat muffin, with or without a lignan complex, for 6 wk, separated by a 6-wk washout period. Flow-mediated, endothelium-dependent vasodilatation (FMD) and nitroglycerine-mediated, endothelium-independent vasodilatation were measured at the end of each intervention period. The sum of Plasma nitrite and nitrate (NOx), endothelin-1 (ET-1), and asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) were measured at the beginning and end of each intervention period. FMD was 3.6 ± 0.9% (mean ± SEM) after the lignan complex intervention period compared with 3.9 ± 0.7% after the placebo period (P = 0.72). Plasma concentrations of NOx, ET-1, and ADMA were not affected. We conclude that daily consumption for 6 wk of a low-fat muffin enriched with a lignan complex had no effect on endothelial function in healthy postmenopausal women.