The vasoprotective actions of flavonoids in ischaemia and hypercholesterolaemia

Funded Activity Summary

Diet has a major influence on the incidence of coronary artery disease. Thus in populations where large amounts of fruits, vegetables and legumes are consumed with a low proportion of food from animal sources there is a relatively lower incidence of coronary artery disease. A possible explanation for the beneficial actions of this diet is that it provides a high level of compounds called flavonoids. Flavonoids have a number of biological actions that may prevent coronary artery disease. Flavonoids can relax blood vessels which would improve blood flow to organs. In addition they may lower the level of LDL cholesterol, the bad form of cholesterol that promotes artery narrowing. They may also have actions that prevent damage that normally occurs to organs when there is an interruption to blood flow, such as occurs when someone has a heart attack or stroke. This project will investigate the ability of selected flavonoids to prevent injury to blood vessels that occurs when there is an interruption to blood flow or when cholesterol levels are too high. Understanding the actions of flavonoids may lead to the development of new therapies to prevent or treat heart attacks and stroke.

Funded Activity Details

Start Date: 01-01-2001

End Date: 01-01-2003

Funding Scheme: NHMRC Project Grants

Funding Amount: $181,018.00

Funder: National Health and Medical Research Council

Research Topics

ANZSRC Field of Research (FoR)

Medical biochemistry - carbohydrates

ANZSRC Socio-Economic Objective (SEO)

There are no SEO codes available for this funding activity

Other Keywords

coronary artery disease | endothelium | flavonoids | hypercholesterolaemia and atherosclerosis | ischaemia/reperfusion | nitric oxide

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