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The importance of diet in preventing non-communicable diseases is well established, with polyphenol consumption suggested to impact cardiovascular disease development. Salicornia ramosissima synthesizes high amounts of phytochemicals under environmental stress. In a randomized controlled clinical trial on 90 healthy volunteers, we evaluated the safety of supplementation with 1 g of polyphenol-rich S. ramosissima extracts from salt marshes and hydroponic sources over three months. No differences in adverse effects were observed between extract-treated and placebo subjects. Salicornia extract from marshes (SM) increased glomerular filtration rate and reduced LDL cholesterol. SM treatment also modulated plasma markers related to cardiovascular disease: MERTK, Gal-9, ADM, TF, PRSS27, HAOX1, IL-18, PAPPA, TNFRSF1A, TIE2 and FGF-21 proteins were downregulated while SRC levels were upregulated. Therefore, under the studied conditions of use, Salicornia extracts consumption is safe and SM induced biochemical and proteomic changes related to cardiovascular health.

In this work, we studied the combined effect of increased temperature and atmospheric CO2, salt and drought stress, and inoculation with plant-growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) on the growth and some nutritional parameters of the edible halophyte Salicornia ramosissima. We found that the increase in temperature and atmospheric CO2, combined with salt and drought stresses, led to important changes in S. ramosissima fatty acids (FA), phenols, and oxalate contents, which are compounds of great importance for human health. Our results suggest that the S. ramosissima lipid profile will change in a future climate change scenario, and that levels of oxalate and phenolic compounds may change in response to salt and drought stress. The effect of inoculation with PGPR depended on the strains used. Some strains induced the accumulation of phenols in S. ramosissima leaves at higher temperature and CO2 while not altering FA profile but also led to an accumulation of oxalate under salt stress. In a climate change scenario, a combination of stressors (temperature, salinity, drought) and environmental conditions (atmospheric CO2, PGPR) will lead to important changes in the nutritional profiles of edible plants. These results may open new perspectives for the nutritional and economical valorization of S. ramosissima.