Consumption of Buckwheat Products and Cardiovascular Risk Profile: A Randomized, Single-Blinded Crossover Trial

Background: Lifestyle modifications, especially dietary interventions, assume an increasingly more important role in the population-based approach to cardiovascular diseases risk reduction. Buckwheat is a highly nutritional food component that has been shown to provide a wide range of beneficial effects. Objective: The aim of the study was to examine whether a replacement diet with buckwheat products could provide additive protective effects in reducing cardiovascular risk factors, including blood glucose, insulin, lipids, oxidative damage and pro-inflammatory markers, in comparison to a similar replacement diet using products made from organic wheat. Methods: Twenty-one participants at high risk for cardiovascular disease (11 F; 10 M; mean age 51.3 ± 13.4) were randomized to receive products (bread, pasta, biscuits and crackers), made from either buckwheat-enriched semi-wholegrain wheat or control semi-wholegrain wheat for 8 weeks in a single-blinded crossover trial. A washout period of 8 weeks was implemented between the two intervention phases, in which participants were permitted to eat all foods according to their normal eating habits. Blood analyses were performed at the start and end of each intervention period, respectively. Results: Consumption of buckwheat products resulted in a significant amelioration in total cholesterol (-4.7%), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (-8.5%), triglycerides (-15%), glucose (-5.8%) and insulin (-17%) from baseline levels, independently of age, sex, body mass index and hypertension. Moreover, thiobarbituriic acid reactive substances (TBARs) levels were significantly reduced by 29.5%. A concomitant significant increase in plasma ORAC levels (+9.7%) was observed. No significant differences from baseline in the same participants were observed after consumption of the control products. Conclusion: Our results suggest that a replacement diet with buckwheat products exert a protective effect on the development of cardiovascular disease by reducing circulating cardiovascular risk factors and markers of oxidative stress.