Onion, Cardiovascular Risk Markers and Gene Expression

Summary

AIMS:

The aims are to investigate whether:

* Increased intake of onion (powder) affects plasma lipid profile, blood pressure, indices of insulin sensitivity and blood coagulation.
* Increased intake of onion (powder) affects the expression/activity of enzymes in the defence against foreign substances, e.g. reactive oxygen species, and whether polymorphisms in some of the involved genes may modulate the effect.
* Polymorphisms involved in the metabolism/effect of bioactive components in onion modulate the excretion of metabolites or modulate some of the outcome variables in the study.

Other aims are to try to identify biomarkers for onion consumption in plasma, urine and feces and to investigate whether onion affects the secretion of fat and bile acids.

HYPOTHESES:

The investigators hypothesize that:

* 2 weeks of increased onion intake will improve the plasma lipid profile
* 2 weeks of increased onion intake will increase the metabolism of potentially harmful substances (such as ROS and free radicals) through a change in the expression or activity of certain enzymes.
* That these effects are modulated by common gene variants (polymorphisms)

Conditions

• Blood Pressure
• Coagulation Delay

Interventions

DIETARY_SUPPLEMENT

Onion powder

Hot meals with onion powder; 10 g/day onion powder corresponding to 100 g/day fresh onion in meals with potato and beef Intervention period 14 days.

DIETARY_SUPPLEMENT

Placebo

Hot meals without onion powder; Control meal with potato, beef, soy protein, and sucrose to match macronutrient composition of active treatment

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Instituto De Frio

  collaborator OTHER_GOV

• University of Copenhagen

  collaborator OTHER

• Professor Lars Ove Dragsted

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Lars O Dragsted, PhD · Dep Nutrition, Exercise and Sports, University of Copenhagen

• Susanne G Bügel, PhD · Dep Human Nutrition, LIFE, University of Copenhagen

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

PREVENTION

Masking

QUADRUPLE

Model

CROSSOVER

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

70 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2008-08-31

Primary Completion

2008-11-30

Completion

2009-04-30

Countries

• Denmark