New research shows potential role for mangos in supporting vascular health and antioxidant activities
Posters presented at Nutrition 2023 advance the role of mangos in improving public health
Boston - July 27, 2023 - Mangos are one of the most popular fruits1 in the world, grown in more than 100 countries2 globally and consumed by an extremely diverse population. Now, two new studies funded by the National Mango Board and presented as posters during the American Society for Nutrition’s Annual Conference (Nutrition 2023) show mangos may play a role in risk reductions for vascular issues while helping to improve antioxidant levels among relatively healthy adult men and women who are overweight or obese.
“Mangos contribute a variety of nutrients, phytochemicals and bioactive compounds to the diet—including 50 percent of the daily value (DV) for vitamin C, 15 percent of the DV for folate and 15 percent of the DV for copper, and mangoes are also a predominant source of the bioactive compound mangiferin,” says Mee Young Hong, Ph.D., the primary investigator for both studies and professor at the School of Exercise and Nutritional Sciences in the College of Health and Human Services at San Diego State University. “It’s likely the unique matrix of vitamins and bioactive compounds synergistically working together that resulted in our findings,” says Young Hong.
Both crossover interventions followed the same 27 overweight or obese participants (16 males, 11 females; BMI 31.8 +/- 4.1 kg/m2) that were between the ages of 18-55 for 28 weeks. The participants were separated into two groups and instructed to eat either a 100-calorie snack of mangos (1 cup) or a 100-calorie snack of low-fat cookies for 12 weeks, as part of their normal lifestyle and eating patterns. Following the first 12 weeks, participants took a 4-week washout break then switched groups and consumed the alternate snack for another 12 weeks. During each 12-week period, participants provided fasting blood samples three times: at baseline, week 4 and week 12.
When the mango snack was eaten versus the low-fat cookie snack, following the12-week intervention, findings from the first study show significant health-positive changes to two markers of oxidative stress, reduced vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) and increased superoxide dismutase (SOD). Findings from the second study show a significant increase of glutathione peroxidase (GPX), a powerful antioxidant enzyme. Other biomarker and biochemical analyses performed across the two studies, which tested additional vascular, inflammatory, and immune risk factors and mediators, did not yield significant results.
“SOD and VCAM-1 play opposite roles as risk factors for vascular issues,” says Young Hong. “While the SOD enzyme reduces risk by breaking down charged oxygen molecules called superoxide radicals,3 which are toxic, the VCAM-1 gene causes cells to stick together along the vascular lining, leading to increased risk for issues.4 To achieve good vascular health, we want to see these two compounds move in opposite directions—SOD up and VCAM-1 down—which is what happened in the study. Additionally, GPX acts by converting hydrogen peroxide to water in the body, thus reducing the harmful oxidative effects of hydrogen peroxide,”5 says Young Hong.
“The totality of findings across both studies continues to add to a growing body of fresh mango research and can help to further advance the scientific understanding of the role mangos can play in helping all Americans achieve their health and wellness goals,” says Leonardo Ortega, Director of Research, National Mango Board.
“Vascular diseases include strokes, which are the third leading cause of death in the United States. Helping Americans find food-first solutions for reducing risks, like including more fruits, such as mangos, in the diet, is critical to reverse these trends and improve public health,” says Young Hong.
With only 70 calories and over 20 different vitamins and minerals, a 3/4-cup serving of mango is nutrient-dense, making it a superfood. Because mangos are widely consumed in cultures around the world including the United States, research into their health benefits contributes to a better understanding of their place in a healthy diet.
For more information, please visit www.mango.org. Click here for mango photography.
- National Mango Board (2023) Mango Facts. Available at: https://www.mango.org/mango-facts/
- Mitra, S.K. (2016). Mango production in the world – present situation and future prospect. Acta Hortic. 1111, 287-296 DOI: 10.17660/ActaHortic.2016.1111.41 https://doi.org/10.17660/ActaHortic.2016.1111.41
- MedlinePlus, Bethesda (MD): National Library of Medicine (US); [updated 2020 Jun 24]. SOD1 gene. Available at: https://medlineplus.gov/genetics/condition/noonan-syndrome/.
- National Library of Medicine (2023) VCAM1 vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 [Homo sapiens (human)]. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gene/7412#bibliography
- Lubos E, Loscalzo J, Handy DE. Glutathione peroxidase-1 in health and disease: from molecular mechanisms to therapeutic opportunities. Antioxid Redox Signal. 2011 Oct 1;15(7):1957-97. doi: 10.1089/ars.2010.3586. Epub 2011 Apr 10. PMID: 21087145; PMCID: PMC3159114.
Drinking kombucha may reduce blood sugar levels in people with type-two diabetes
Small pilot study suggests larger trials warranted to confirm potential benefit of fermented tea
WASHINGTON — People with type-II diabetes who drank the fermented tea drink kombucha for four weeks had lower fasting blood glucose levels compared to when they consumed a similar-tasting placebo beverage, according to results from a clinical trial conducted by researchers at Georgetown University's School of Health, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and MedStar Health. This finding, from a pilot 12-person feasibility trial, points to the potential for a dietary intervention that could help lower blood sugar levels in people with diabetes and also establishes the basis for a larger trial to confirm and expand upon these results.
This finding was reported in Frontiers in Nutrition on August 1, 2023.
Kombucha is a tea fermented with bacteria and yeasts and was consumed as early as 200 B.C. in China, but it did not become popular in the U.S. until the 1990s. Its popularity has been bolstered by anecdotal claims of improved immunity and energy and reductions in food cravings and inflammation, but proof of these benefits has been limited.
“Some laboratory and rodent studies of kombucha have shown promise and one small study in people without diabetes showed kombucha lowered blood sugar, but to our knowledge this is the first clinical trial examining effects of kombucha in people with diabetes,” says study author Dan Merenstein, M.D., professor of Human Sciences in Georgetown’s School of Health and professor of family medicine at Georgetown University School of Medicine. “A lot more research needs to be done but this is very promising.”
Merenstein continued, “A strength of our trial was that we didn't tell people what to eat because we used a crossover design that limited the effects of any variability in a person’s diet.”
The crossover design had one group of people drinking about eight ounces of kombucha or placebo beverage daily for four weeks and then after a two-month period to ‘wash out’ the biological effects of the beverages, the kombucha and placebo were swapped between groups with another four weeks of drinking the beverages. Neither group was told which drink they were receiving at the time.
Kombucha appeared to lower average fasting blood glucose levels after four weeks from 164 to 116 milligrams per deciliter while the difference after four weeks with the placebo was not statistically significant. Guidelines from the American Diabetes Association recommended blood sugar levels before meals should be between 70 to 130 milligrams per deciliter.
The researchers also looked at the makeup of fermenting micro-organisms in kombucha to determine which ingredients might be the most active. They found that the beverage was mainly comprised of lactic acid bacteria, acetic acid bacteria, and a form of yeast called Dekkera, with each microbe present in about equal measure; the finding was confirmed with RNA gene sequencing.
The kombucha used in this study was produced by Craft Kombucha, a commercial manufacturer in the Washington, DC, area. It has been re-branded as Brindle Boxer Kombucha.
“Different studies of different brands of kombucha by different manufacturers reveal slightly different microbial mixtures and abundances,” says Robert Hutkins, Ph.D., University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the study’s senior author. “However, the major bacteria and yeasts are highly reproducible and likely to be functionally similar between brands and batches, which was reassuring for our trial.”
“An estimated 96 million Americans have pre-diabetes -- and diabetes itself is the eighth leading cause of death in the U.S. as well as being a major risk factor for heart disease, stroke and kidney failure,” says Chagai Mendelson, M.D., lead author who was working in Merenstein’s lab at Georgetown while completing his residency at MedStar Health. “We were able to provide preliminary evidence that a common drink could have an effect on diabetes. We hope that a much larger trial, using the lessons we learned in this trial, could be undertaken to give a more definitive answer to the effectiveness of kombucha in reducing blood glucose levels, and hence prevent or help treat type-II diabetes.”
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Additional study authors at Georgetown University are Sabrina Sparkes, a student in the School of Health, Varun Sharma and Sameer Desale. In addition to Hutkins, Chloe Christensen, Jennifer M. Auchtung, Car Reen Kok and Heather E. Hallen-Adams are at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
The authors wish to express their gratitude to Tanya Maynigo, founder of Craft Kombucha for providing the kombucha and placebo kombucha for this study. She teaches kombucha classes in Washington, DC, and this year is launching a new brand of her favorite drink called Brindle Boxer Kombucha.
The study received no external funding.
Hutkins is a co-founder of Synbiotic Health. Auchtung has a financial interest in Synbiotic Health. Merenstein is president of the International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics board, a non-paid position. All other authors have no competing interests to declare. All kombucha and placebo drinks were donated by Craft Kombucha. Craft Kombucha did not have any access to data reported in this study. No author has any financial ties with Craft Kombucha.
About Georgetown University Medical Center
As a top academic health and science center, Georgetown University Medical Center provides, in a synergistic fashion, excellence in education — training physicians, nurses, health administrators and other health professionals, as well as biomedical scientists — and cutting-edge interdisciplinary research collaboration, enhancing our basic science and translational biomedical research capacity in order to improve human health. Patient care, clinical research and education is conducted with our academic health system partner, MedStar Health. GUMC’s mission is carried out with a strong emphasis on social justice and a dedication to the Catholic, Jesuit principle of cura personalis -- or “care of the whole person.” GUMC comprises the School of Medicine, the School of Nursing, School of Health, Biomedical Graduate Education, and Georgetown Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center. Designated by the Carnegie Foundation as a doctoral university with "very high research activity,” Georgetown is home to a Clinical and Translational Science Award from the National Institutes of Health, and a Comprehensive Cancer Center designation from the National Cancer Institute. Connect with GUMC on Facebook (Facebook.com/GUMCUpdate) and on Twitter (@gumedcenter).
JOURNAL
Frontiers in Nutrition
METHOD OF RESEARCH
Randomized controlled/clinical trial
SUBJECT OF RESEARCH
People
ARTICLE TITLE
Kombucha Tea as an Anti-Hyperglycemic Agent in Humans with Diabetes -A Randomized Controlled Pilot Investigation
ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE
1-Aug-2023
COI STATEMENT
Hutkins is a co-founder of Synbiotic Health. Auchtung has a financial interest in Synbiotic Health. Merenstein is president of the International Scientific Association for Probiotics and Prebiotics board, a non-paid position. All other authors have no competing interests to declare. All kombucha and placebo drinks were donated by Craft Kombucha. Craft Kombucha did not have any access to data reported in this study. No author has any financial ties with Craft Kombucha.
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