Non-nutrients and nutrients from Latin American fruits for the prevention of cardiovascular diseases.

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) have been rapidly increasing; among them, cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are responsible for around 1/3 of deaths in the world. Environmental factors play a central role in their development. Diet is a very important factor in this scenario, and the intake of fruits and vegetables has been considered as one of the critical strategies for reducing the risk of CVDs. Fruits are a source of micronutrients and bioactive compounds that could have cardioprotective effects through several distinct mechanisms, such as antioxidant, antithrombotic and antiplatelet activities, vasodilatation, improvement of plasma lipid profiles, and modulation of inflammatory signaling. Brazil has a very rich and unexplored biodiversity in its different biomes, with several types of fruit, which are a source of bioactive compounds and micronutrients with therapeutic properties. In this sense, this review shows the current knowledge regarding the cardioprotective properties of selected Latin American and Brazilian fruits, including their effects on the activation of platelets and on the inflammation processes involved in atherosclerosis and cardiovascular diseases.

Fisiopatología del estado protrombótico en el síndrome metabólico / Pathophysiology of the prothrombotic state in metabolic syndrome

El síndrome metabólico (SM) se caracteriza por la presencia de tres de los siguientes criterios: obesidad abdominal, hipertrigliceridemia, disminución del colesterol HDL, presión arterial alta en tratamiento, e hiperglicemia o diabetes mellitus en tratamiento. En la mayoría de los países desarrollados y en vías de desarrollo, la prevalencia de SM fluctúa entre 20 y 30 por ciento en la población adulta. La presencia de SM representa un aumento del riesgo cardiovascular, situación que se asociaría en parte, al estado protrombótico que acompaña este síndrome, y que incluye disfunción endotelial, hipercoagulabilidad, hipofibrinólisis y activación plaquetaria.El estado protrombótico del SM no está suficientemente estudiado. Seguramente el mayor conocimiento de los mecanismos fisiopatológicos que contribuyen a dicho estado, podría ser importante en la búsqueda de nuevas estrategias de prevención y tratamiento de eventos cardiovasculares en dichos pacientes.