Antihypertensive effects of foods

Table 1 Antihypertensive effects of functional foods in animal experiments

Functional foods	Active ingredients	Animal experiments	Results	Ref.
Tea	Catechin Flavonoid	Taking the green tea polyphenol water containing 3.5 g/L catechins, 0.5 g/L flavonols and 1 g/L polymetric flavonoids to SHRSP	Decreases in SBP and DBP	[7]
GABA	GABA	Single oral administration of GABA (0.5 mg/kg) to SHR and normotensive Wistar-Kyoto rats	Decrease in SBP in SHR rats, but not in normotensive rats	[16]
Stevia	Stevioside	Intraperitoneally administration of stevioside (50, 100 and 200 mg/kg) to normotensive Wistar-Kyoto rats (NTR), SHR, DOCA-NaCl, DHR and RHR	Hypotensive effect was noted in different strains of rats at the dose of 50 mg/kg. The dose of 100 and 200 mg/kg caused slow and persistent lowering of blood pressure in SHR and NTR Blood pressure decreased in a dose-dependent manner in SHR	[22]
Black vinegar	Acetic acid Black vinegar-derived peptides	Single (3 g/kg body weight) and continuous administration (8 wk; 10% (w/w) of diet) of black malt vinegar to SHR	Decrease in SBP in the administration of either	[32]
Goma	Sesamin	Taking a sesamin-containing diets (0.1, 1 w/w% ) to DOCA-salt hypertensive rats for 5 wk	Decrease in SBP	[34]
Fish oil	EPA DHA	Daily oral administration of 30 to 300 mg/kg EPA to SHR and normotensive rats for eight weeks	Treatment of 30, 100, and 300 mg/kg EPA decreased mean SBP in SHR	[40]
Garlic	S-allyl cysteine (SAC), Allicin	Daily oral administration of 50 mg of aqueous extract of garlic totwo-kidney-one-clip hypertensive rat for 4 wk	SBP and ACE activity in serum and different tissues such as aorta, heart, kidney and lung decreased	[46]
		5/6 nephrectomized rats were treated with SAC (200 mg/kg ip) or aged garlic extract (1.2 mL/kg ip) every other day for 30 d	SBP and renal failure decreased, SOD activity increased	[47]
Onion	Quercetin	Taking a 5% dried onion diet to L-NAME induced-hypertensive rats and SHRSP for 4 wk	SBP decreased from 1 wk in both rats, and TBARS decreased at 4 wk Urinary nitrite, NOS activity was increased in SHRSP rats	[58]
Pea	PPH	Oral administration of the PPH to spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) at doses of 100 and 200 mg/kg	Decrease in SBP	[64]

A list of animal experiments. Hypotensive actions have been confirmed in multiple types of rat, mainly SHR. GABA: G-aminobutyric acid; PPH: Pea protein hydrolysate; DOCA-NaCl: Deoxycorticosterone acetate-salt; DHR: Sensitive hypertensive rats; RHR: Renal hypertensive rats.

Table 2 Antihypertensive effects of functional foods in human clinical trials

Functional foods	Human clinical trials		Ref.
	Targets	Study designs
Tea	Obese (BMI ≥ 30), hypertensive subjects	Taking 379 mg of Green Tea extract (including 208 mg of EGCG) for 3 mo. (randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled trial)	[11]
	Overweight or obese subjects (BMI > 28)	Taking 400 mg of EGCG twice daily for 8 wk. (randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled trial)	[10]
GABA	Subjects with high normal blood pressure	Drinking 100 mL of fermented milk containing 12.3 mg of GABA for 12 wk. (randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled trial)	[17]
	Mildly hypertensive subjects	Drinking 100 mL of fermented milk product containing 10-12 mg of GABA for 12 wk. (randomized single-blind, placebo-controlled trial	[18]
	Subjects with high-normal blood pressure	Taking less-sodium soy sauce containing 120 mg of GABA once daily for 12 wk. (double-blind, placebo-controlled trial	[19]
Stevia	Subjects with mild to moderate essential hypertension	Taking 250 mg of stevioside 3 times daily for 1 yr. (randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled trial)	[25]
	Subjects with mild essential hypertension	Taking 500 mg of stevioside 3 times daily for 2 yr. (randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled trial)	[26]
Black vinegar	Subjects with high normal, mild hypertension	Taking a drink containing 15% black vinegar or 15% apple vinegar for 10 wk (double-blind, placebo-controlled trial)	[29]
	Subjects with high normal, mild hypertension	taking a drink containing tomato vinega (750 mg/100 g per day) for 12 wk (double-blind placebo-controlled trial)	[30]
	Subjects with mild to moderate hypertension	Taking a drink containing apple vinegar (acetic acid 0.75 g/100 mL) or acetic acid (acetic acid 1.5 g/100 mL) for 8 wk	[31]
		(three groups parallel, placebo-controlled trial)
Goma	Subjects with mild hypertension	Taking 60 mg of sesamin for 4 wk (double-blind, cross-over, placebo-controlled trial)	[37]
Fish oil	Subjects with essential hypertension	Taking 2.7 g of EPA for 8 wk (randomized double-blind, cross-over, placebo-controlled trial)	[41]
	Subjects with hypertension and/or hypercholesterolemia	Taking a 2 g of DHA for 5 wk (randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled trial)	[45]
Garlic	Subjects with uncontrolled systolic hypertension (SBP ≥ 140 mmHg)	Taking aged garlic extract (240/480/960 mg containing 0.6/1.2/2.4 mg of S-allylcysteine) for 12 wk (randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled trial)	[51]
	Subjects with uncontrolled hypertension	Taking 960 mg of aged garlic extract containing 2.4 mg S-allylcysteine daily for 12 wk (randomized double-blind, placebo-controlled trial)	[55]
Onion	Subjects with prehypertension and stage 1 hypertension	Taking 730 mg quercetin for 4 wk (randomized double-blind, cross-over, placebo-controlled trial)	[63]
Pea	subjects with SBP ranging from 125 to 170 mmHg	Taking 1.5 and 3 g of PPH for 3 wk (randomized double-blind, cross-over, placebo-controlled trial)	[64]

A list of human clinical trials. We reviewed mainly clinical trials involving hypertensive patients. BMI: Body mass index; GABA: G-aminobutyric acid; EGCG: Epigallocatechin-3-O-(3-O-methyl) gallate.