A Review of Dietary and Nutritional Supplements Used to Promote Cardiovascular Health

Cardiovascular disease is frequently diagnosed in birds that are presented to veterinary hospitals, and atherosclerosis is a common cardiovascular condition identified in postmortem evaluations of pet psittacine birds. Atherosclerotic lesions are accumulations of lipids, smooth muscle cells, macrophages, and foam cells in the intimal layer of a blood vessel, narrowing the lumen. A reduced lumen diameter in a blood vessel typically results in physiological complications, such as ischemia, vascular remodeling, and obstructed blood flow. The treatment for atherosclerosis is often aimed at providing medications that help limit the negative effects of ischemia, a consequence of reduced blood flow. However, other therapeutic measures that have been recommended involve nutritional support, exercise, and control of secondary disorders. Nutritional therapies for the prevention and treatment of atherosclerosis have minimal evidence-based data to support their use in psittacine birds. Nonetheless, there are anecdotal reports and published studies using other animal species to investigate the benefits of diet and nutritional supplements to prevent and treat cardiovascular disease. Fish oil, ginger, ginkgo, cinnamon, cranberries, dates, dill, alfalfa, fenugreek, ginseng, red pepper, saffron, gardenia, and turmeric have all been promoted as nutritional supplements for their beneficial effects on preventing and treating atherosclerosis. The nutritional supplement with the most scientific data supporting its use in psittacine birds is fish oil, a source of omega-3 fatty acids. Although omega-3 fatty acids may hold the most promise, all nutritional supplements require further investigation to support or refute their use in psittacine birds for the prevention, management, or treatment of atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease in general.