Christine Morand, PhD, of of the Human Nutrition Unit-INRA Clermont- Ferrand, and colleagues performed a crossover study on 24 overweight but otherwise healthy men, ages 51 to 63. Daily during three successive four-week periods, the men drank 17 ounces of orange juice (which contains about 300 milligrams of hesperidin), a control drink with 300 milligrams of hesperidin capsules, and finally a control drink with placebo capsules. Each of the drinks added about 200 daily calories.
At the end of both the OJ and hesperidin test periods, diastolic blood pressure was significantly lower than after the placebo testing. Diastolic blood pressure—the second number in a blood-pressure reading, after the slash—measures the pressure in your blood vessels between heartbeats, when your heart is resting. For men in their 50s or 60s with blood pressure of 150/90 mm Hg, researchers pointed out, a decrease of just three or four points in diastolic pressure could translate into a 20% reduction in the incidence of coronary artery disease.
Morand and colleagues also tested a variety of measures of blood-vessel activity, including the ability of blood vessels to dilate. Both orange juice and hesperidin showed positive effects compared to placebo.