Kiwifruit can help battle heart disease

4.00pm - By MATTHEW TORBIT

Eating kiwifruit daily can fight off heart disease by cutting dangerous fat that can block arteries and reducing the risk of blood clots, research has revealed.

The groundbreaking findings by Norwegian scientists shows eating kiwifruit each day cuts the amount of fat platelets being pumped around the body while also thinning the blood -- reducing the risk of potentially fatal clots.

The work, at the University of Oslo, showed that eating two or three kiwifruit a day for 28 days reduced the platelet aggregation response to the release of collagen in the bloodstream.

Australian research last year showed collagens were potent activators of the clotting mechanism. Collagen in the blood vessels regulates blood clotting in patients with atherosclerosis, or cholesterol build-up, which can could damage the artery walls, in turn triggering the release of more collagen.

The Australian research showed collagen was instrumental in regulating calcium signalling that directed the clumping together of platelets which formed clots.

In Oslo, researchers found that eating two or three kiwifruit a day for 28 days reduced the platelet agreggation response to collagen and adenosine diphosphate (ADP) by 18 per cent.

Consumption of kiwifruit also lowered by 15 per cent blood levels of trigylcerides -- free-floating fats which are a component of harmful cholesterol.

The research was published in the August issue of Platelets medical journal, in which lead researcher Professor Asim Duttaroy said that many of the phytonutrients, known as polyphenolic compounds, widely distributed in fruits and vegetables had antioxidant as well as anti-thrombotic properties, which help prevent blood clotting.

But Prof Duttaroy stressed that although kiwifruit contained very significant amounts of antioxidants such as polyphenols and vitamins C and E, these were not included in the study.

"There is something in kiwifruit which creates an anti-platelet effect," said Prof Duttaroy, who added that the way in which kiwifruit worked was quite different to asprin administered for blood-thinning.

"Consuming kiwifruit is an effective way of inhibiting blood clotting and can improve cardiovascular risk profiles in healthy adults."

Heart disease kills 6000 people a year in New Zealand.

Zespri New Zealand chief executive Tim Goodacre said his company supplied the Norwegian researchers with green kiwifruit last year.

"But other than that we were not involved with the research."

Zespri had always promoted the health benefits of the product.

"We obviously make our consumers aware that kiwifruit contain twice as much vitamin C than an orange."

He added that the new research would add weight to Zespri's international marketing strategy and hopefully boost sales.

An Auckland company, Vital Foods, which earns over $4 million a year from sales of kiwifruit products, is looking at cashing in on the research.

The company is already selling "kiwifruit capsules" and chewy tablets as a digestion aid in New Zealand, Germany, Norway and Australia, and managing director Bruce Donaldson said the company would repeat the Norwegian study, using its capsules instead of whole kiwifruit, to see if it could make the same claims.

The company had shown saliva knocked out about two-thirds of a beneficial enzyme in the kiwifruit and it believed capsules were therefore more effective than simply eating the fruit.

Mr Donaldson said he hoped an airline would sponsor the study, given the potential for kiwifruit to reduce the risk of deep vein thrombosis on long haul flights.

Auckland cardiologist Professor Harvey White said while the study was a long way from showing kiwifruit actually reduced the risk of heart disease, it was "pretty interesting" and indicated the fruit could be a useful alternative to aspirin.

Statistics New Zealand figures show heart disease was second only to cancer as a major cause of death, killing more than 6000 people a year in this country.

The research comes after a Waikato University study found the kiwifruit industry created more money and jobs for the Bay of Plenty than anything else. The fruit pumped $2 billion into the local economy last year and sustained 18,500 jobs.

- BAY OF PLENTY TIMES, NZPA