In a new paper out of our laboratory we describe the clinical use of Bergamot, a citrus fruit grown in southern Italy, as a natural way to lower cholesterol.
This paper describing Bergamot for lowering cholesterol was published in the journal of Integrative Food, Nutrition, and Metabolism
Though most citrus fruits are known to contain flavonoids, the bergamot is unique in that it contains an especially high content of flavonoids.
Neoeriocitrin, naringin and neohesperidin have all been isolated and identified in bergamot and are found in large amounts in the fruit extract.
You can find the paper below in the reference section where we describe Bergamot being tested in clinical trials ranging from 30 days to 6 months.
The mechanism of action has been described as being similar to statins, the cholesterol lowering drugs.
The mechanism of statins is through direct inhibition of HMG-CoA reductase, however, we would suggest more work needs to be done to determine if this is true.
The reason for this is because largely the inhibition of HMG-CoA reductase is based on molecular modeling as opposed to detailed cell culture and direct protein interaction studies.
Reference: Mirielle C. Nauman and Jeremy J. Johnson. Clinical application of bergamot (Citrus bergamia) for reducing high cholesterol and cardiovascular disease markers. Integrative Food, Nutrition, and Metabolism. 2019 Mar; 6(2): 10.15761/IFNM.1000249.
