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Can Antioxidant-Rich Berries Improve Risk Factors Associated With Cardiovascular Disease In Postmenopausal Smokers?, Jordan Alaine Teeple
Can Antioxidant-Rich Berries Improve Risk Factors Associated With Cardiovascular Disease In Postmenopausal Smokers?, Jordan Alaine Teeple
Graduate Theses and Dissertations
The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of smoking on risk factors associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD) and determine the efficacy of antioxidant-rich berries in ameliorating these risk factors in postmenopausal smokers. Menopause and cigarette smoking have been identified as major risk factors for CVD due to a decrease in antioxidant protection, increase in inflammation and oxidative stress, and adverse changes in serum lipids. Antioxidants, specifically flavonoid compounds found in blackberries and blueberries, have been shown to prevent low-density lipoprotein cholesterol oxidation and thus prevent downstream inflammation and oxidative stress. Healthy, postmenopausal nonsmokers (n=14) and smokers (n=31) …