Protein in Yellow Peas May Help Lower Hypertension
A Canadian study has found that the proteins in the yellow garden pea seem to help lower hypertension.
What's more, they can delay, control or even prevent kidney disease.
High blood pressure is a major risk for chronic kidney disease, thought to affect an estimated 13% of American adults.
That's about 26 million of us.
Known to be tough to treat, kidney disease claims many lives due to cardiovascular complications and can progress to end stage disease that requires life saving kidney dialysis or a transplant.
A team of researchers, underwritten by several government entities, was looking for a way to affect blood pressure in these patients, and focused their efforts on the potential effect of yellow peas, a vegetable we know to be a low fat, cholesterol free source of vitamins, protein and fiber.
What the team did was use a complex protein purification process to activate an otherwise dormant benefit from the vegetable.
In this work a mix of yellow garden pea proteins, called "pea protein hydrolysate" was created and fed to rats that had kidney disease.
Rats are surprisingly similar genetically in many ways to humans.
After the eight weeks, the blood pressure in the treated rats dropped 20% compared with the blood pressure of rats who hadn't been treated.
Another measure, urine production, often severely curtailed in kidney disease of both rats and people, improved as much as 30% in the rats who'd been treated.
Researchers think that's a pretty substantial improvement, and were glad to see no obvious adverse effects from the pea protein.
"What we seem to have here is sort of a natural approach to treating this disease, as opposed to the normal pharmacological approach," explains lead author Rotimi E.
Aluko, a food chemist at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg.
"We're talking about an edible product, not a drug, which can help to reduce blood pressure and, at the same time, reduce the severely negative impact of kidney disease.
" To make such a product available on a large scale isn't a simple thing.
The pea protein that was used in the Canadian research would have to be mixed with enzymes so that it could take the form of a food additive or nutritional supplement.
Trials in people are underway right now, and if these prove successful, a pea-based treatment could be available in two to three years.
Because the therapeutic agent is a natural substance, experts believe it will be easier to tolerate than other blood pressure medications, and carry no danger of overdose as another drug might.
What fascinates Dr.
George Bakris of the University of Chicago is that these peas when altered works like ACE inhibitors that have been on the market for 25 years.
Something totally natural that works just like the standard drugs doctors already know about - Now that's exciting.
The work was just presented by Aluko and his colleagues at the 2009 American Chemical Society's national meeting held in Salt Lake City.
What's more, they can delay, control or even prevent kidney disease.
High blood pressure is a major risk for chronic kidney disease, thought to affect an estimated 13% of American adults.
That's about 26 million of us.
Known to be tough to treat, kidney disease claims many lives due to cardiovascular complications and can progress to end stage disease that requires life saving kidney dialysis or a transplant.
A team of researchers, underwritten by several government entities, was looking for a way to affect blood pressure in these patients, and focused their efforts on the potential effect of yellow peas, a vegetable we know to be a low fat, cholesterol free source of vitamins, protein and fiber.
What the team did was use a complex protein purification process to activate an otherwise dormant benefit from the vegetable.
In this work a mix of yellow garden pea proteins, called "pea protein hydrolysate" was created and fed to rats that had kidney disease.
Rats are surprisingly similar genetically in many ways to humans.
After the eight weeks, the blood pressure in the treated rats dropped 20% compared with the blood pressure of rats who hadn't been treated.
Another measure, urine production, often severely curtailed in kidney disease of both rats and people, improved as much as 30% in the rats who'd been treated.
Researchers think that's a pretty substantial improvement, and were glad to see no obvious adverse effects from the pea protein.
"What we seem to have here is sort of a natural approach to treating this disease, as opposed to the normal pharmacological approach," explains lead author Rotimi E.
Aluko, a food chemist at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg.
"We're talking about an edible product, not a drug, which can help to reduce blood pressure and, at the same time, reduce the severely negative impact of kidney disease.
" To make such a product available on a large scale isn't a simple thing.
The pea protein that was used in the Canadian research would have to be mixed with enzymes so that it could take the form of a food additive or nutritional supplement.
Trials in people are underway right now, and if these prove successful, a pea-based treatment could be available in two to three years.
Because the therapeutic agent is a natural substance, experts believe it will be easier to tolerate than other blood pressure medications, and carry no danger of overdose as another drug might.
What fascinates Dr.
George Bakris of the University of Chicago is that these peas when altered works like ACE inhibitors that have been on the market for 25 years.
Something totally natural that works just like the standard drugs doctors already know about - Now that's exciting.
The work was just presented by Aluko and his colleagues at the 2009 American Chemical Society's national meeting held in Salt Lake City.