Retrospective Analysis of Dietary Antioxidants and Arterial Stiffness in Young and Middle-Aged Adult Males

INTRODUCTION: Oxidative stress is a known contributor to cardiovascular disease (CVD). An imbalance between reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and antioxidant scavenging leads to a state of oxidative stress. Young and middle-aged adult males experience an increased production of ROS and greater oxidative stress compared to females of the same age. Exogenous antioxidants acquired through the diet including vitamin A, C, E, β-carotene, zinc, copper, magnesium may decrease ROS and oxidative stress damage. A lack of antioxidants to prevent the damage that is derived from ROS may lead to accelerated large artery stiffening due to increased arterial inflammation and elastin degradation. Thus, this study aimed to retrospectively explore if arterial stiffness in a young and middle-aged adult male population was associated with estimated antioxidant consumption from a one-year diet recall. PURPOSE: To test the hypothesis that increased dietary consumption of vitamin A, C, E (α-Tocopherol), β-carotene, zinc, copper, magnesium are associated with lower levels of arterial stiffness via carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (cfPWV) in a young and middle-aged male population. METHODS: Arterial stiffness (cfPWV) was measured in 110 apparently healthy males (Age: 39±8yr, Body mass: 89.3±16.2kg, Body fat: 20.6±5.7%) who completed the Healthy Eating Index (HEI) Questionnaire, recalling dietary patterns of the previous year. Dietary patterns were translated into a HEI score based on United States Dietary Guidelines. HEI score of zero is the lowest possible score and 100 is the greatest possible score, indicating healthier dietary patterns. Antioxidant consumption was calculated and extracted from the HEI data, via the Diet*Calc Analysis Program (National Cancer Institute, Silver Spring, MD, USA). Multiple linear regression was conducted to examine the association between cfPWV and each antioxidant. Age was used as a covariate in the models to account for the known relationship with PWV. Regression coefficient represented as β and p-value. RESULTS: Participants had an average cfPWV of 6.76±1.17 m/s and a total HEI of 65±7. Vitamin E (β= -2.4*10-2, p = 0.03, adj. R 2 = 0.323), was the only antioxidant to show a significant association with cfPWV. Vitamin A (β = -2.7*10-4, p=0.14, adj. R 2 = 0.307), Vitamin C (β = -1.7*10-3, p=0.10, adj. R 2 = 0.310), Magnesium (β = -6.0*10-4, p =0.10, adj. R 2 =0.310), β-carotene (β =-1.49*10-5, p =0.23, adj. R 2 =0.302), copper (β = -0.11, p = 0.15, adj. R 2 = 0.306), and zinc (β = -1.2*10-2, p =0.25, adj. R 2 = 0.301) showed no significant correlation with cfPWV. CONCLUSION: Dietary consumption of Vitamin E demonstrated a small inverse association with cfPWV. However, no other antioxidants had an association with cfPWV. These results indicate that recalled dietary antioxidant consumption may not impact arterial stiffening in a young and middle-aged male population. Further investigation should focus on controlled dietary choices containing Vitamin E (α-Tocopherol) to target oxidative stress to better understand antioxidant relevance to arterial stiffness in adult male populations. This abstract was presented at the American Physiology Summit 2026 and is only available in HTML format. There is no downloadable file or PDF version. The Physiology editorial board was not involved in the peer review process.