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Essay On Blood Pressure

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2.3.1 GABA in management of hypertension
GABA plays a major role in the regulation of blood pressure. Various studies have described that GABA can reduce high blood pressure in animals and humans. Table 2.2 depicts some of the examples that have revealed the hypotensive role of GABA. The blood pressure (BP) in hypertensive humans and in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) decreases due to intake of GABA-rich food, as reported by Hayakawa et al., (2004) and Kajimoto et al., (2004), respectively. Direct injection of GABA (50–200 μg) reduced arterial pressure and heart rate in Wistar rats (Sasaki et al., 1996). Systolic blood pressure (SBP) in SHR was effectively reduced after 8 weeks of oral administration of GABA and peptide-enriched …show more content…

The antihypertensive effect in humans has also been studied with an algae enriched with GABA, which reduced BP after oral administration of 20 mg of GABA for 12 weeks. Its use, therefore, as a dietary supplement has been suggested (Shimada et al., 2009). Also, a mushroom species (Agaricus blazei) with enhanced GABA levels has revealed an antihypertensive effect on mild hypertensive human subjects (Watanabe et al., 2003). A dietary supplementation of 80 mg of GABA also reduced BP in adults with mild hypertension (Matsubara et al., 2002). Joye et al., (2011) suggested that the daily consumption of one portion (30 g) of GABA-enriched breakfast cereals lowered BP.
Table 2.2 GABA as blood pressure lowering agent
Food type GABA dosage Type of subject Reference
Green tea 4 mg Rat Abe et al., 1995
Direct injection 50–200 μg Rat Sasaki et al., 1996
Dietary supplementation 80 mg Human Matsubara et al., 2002
Tempeh-like fermented soybean nr Rat Aoki et al., 2003
Fermented milk 100 ml (containing 10–12 mg of GABA) Human Inoue et al., 2003
Mushroom (Agaricus blazei) nr Human Watanabe et al., 2003
Fermented milk 0.5 mg Rat Hayakawa et al., 2004
Fermented milk nr Human Kajimoto et al., 2004
Soybean powder 0.15% Male rat Shizuka et al., 2004
Potato snack 1.7 mg/kg BW Rat Noguchi et al., 2007
Soy sauce 0.33 ml/kg BW (containing 1% of GABA) Rat

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