Orange juice combined with a healthy eating pattern improves endothelial function in patients with metabolic syndrome: a randomized controlled trial.

Verify if daily administration of 100% pure orange juice, coupled with a healthy dietary pattern, reduces cardiovascular risk and improves vascular endothelial function in individuals with metabolic syndrome within twelve weeks. Randomized parallel group clinical study with short-term nutritional intervention. The average age was 489 years. The volunteers were randomly allocated to the control (n = 34) and orange juice (n = 34) groups, all of whom were oriented to increase the consumption of fresh or minimally processed foods, and to reduce processed and ultra-processed foods. The orange juice group was recommended to use 500 mL / day of orange juice daily, concomitantly with the healthy diet. After 12 weeks of intervention, a significant mean reduction in body weight (-2%), BMI (-3%), fat mass (-5%), waist circumference (-6%) and visceral fat were detected in both groups (-5%), without change in lean mass. There was also a significant reduction in endothelial and vascular function in both groups, assessed by the following parameters: systolic (-8%), diastolic (-9%) blood pressure,and reduction of carotid artery thickening (-8% CA-IMT). The improvement of these parameters led to a reduction in overall cardiovascular risk in both groups, suggesting benefits of nutritional orientation and regular consumption of orange juice.