This work was funded by ISCIII under the framework of Health Research Projects (PI21/01158 ETNIAS), and co-funded by the European Union. This work was also supported by project PE-0527-2019 funded by Consejería de Salud y Familias 2019 and cofunded by European Union (FEDER, “Andalucía se mueve con Europa”). This work was supported by project RD21/0006/0015, funded by the National Institute of Health Carlos III (ISCIII) with public funding from the Cooperative Research Networks for Health Results (RICORS) RICORS-ICTUS. Thematic Area: cerebrovascular diseases. “Funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU. European Union Recovery and Resilience Facility, measures integrated into the PRTR”. C.R. received financial support from the Sara Borrell program funded by ISCIII, grant number CD21/00148. M.R. received financial support from the PFIS program funded by ISCIII grant number FI22/00202. MLCG thanks her contract RYC2021-032119-I founded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and NextGenerationEU/PRTR. FJLJ thanks to the grant FJC2020-044298-I funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033.

The importance of diet in preventing non-communicable diseases is well established, with polyphenol consumption suggested to impact cardiovascular disease development. Salicornia ramosissima synthesizes high amounts of phytochemicals under environmental stress. In a randomized controlled clinical trial on 90 healthy volunteers, we evaluated the safety of supplementation with 1 g of polyphenol-rich S. ramosissima extracts from salt marshes and hydroponic sources over three months. No differences in adverse effects were observed between extract-treated and placebo subjects. Salicornia extract from marshes (SM) increased glomerular filtration rate and reduced LDL cholesterol. SM treatment also modulated plasma markers related to cardiovascular disease: MERTK, Gal-9, ADM, TF, PRSS27, HAOX1, IL-18, PAPPA, TNFRSF1A, TIE2 and FGF-21 proteins were downregulated while SRC levels were upregulated. Therefore, under the studied conditions of use, Salicornia extracts consumption is safe and SM induced biochemical and proteomic changes related to cardiovascular health.

Peer reviewed