Relevance of some nutrients in the pre­vention and treatment of hypertension

Abstract

Oxidative stress, which develops due to imbalance of free radicals and antioxidant factors, has an important role in oxidative stress. The combination of different antioxidants can act sinergistically in the neutralization of free radicals, nitric oxide increase, improvement of vasodilatation and lowering blood pressure. This paper reviews the impact of certain food ingredients (vitamins, oligoelements, proteins) on prevention of hypertension and blood pressure lowering. Literature was found by searching the Medline database from 1995 to 2010 by using the following keywords: hypertension, prevention of hypertension, antioxidants, electrolytes, and nutrients. Excesive natrium intake as well as insufficiency of microelements in nutrition such as calcium, magnesium, zink and selenium contributes to the development of hypertension. A numerous nutritients used in prevention and treatment of hypertension (hydrolisates of soy proteins, whey, sardines, wheat germs, ω-3 and ω-6 unsaturated fatty acids, green and black tea, mushrooms, vitamin B6, L-arginine, flavonoids, taurine, allicin from garlic, active principles of hawtorn) have effects similar to certain groups of antihipertensive drugs (diuretics, beta blockers, calcium channel blockers, ACE inhibitors, angiotensin receptors blockers, central α-agonists, direct vasodilatators). Natural components are of importance in the prevention of hypertension but their potency is not sufficient to lower high blood pressure. However, certain individual components of natural food in combination with antihypertensive drugs may act synergistically, and with proper diet drug therapy can achieve a better effect.

Hipertenzija je masovno oboljenje sa visokom stopom smrtnosti od komplikacija koje nastaju. Promena stila života, posebno načina ishrane ima značajnu ulogu u prevenciji nastanka hipertenzije i u odlaganju pojave komplikacija. Ovaj rad razmatra uticaj pojedinih sastojaka hrane (vitamina, oligoelemenata, proteina) na prevenciju i smanjenje povišenog krvnog pritiska. Literatura je pronađena pretraživanjem Medline baze u periodu od 1995. do 2010. godine korišćenjem sledećih ključnih reči: hipertenzija, prevencija hipertenzije, antioksidansi, elektroliti, nutrijenti. Razvoju hipertenzije doprinosi i prekomeran unos natrijuma, kao i nedostatak elektrolita i mikroelemenata u ishrani, kao što su: kalijum, magnezijum, kalcijum, cink i selen. Brojni nutrijenti koji se koriste u prevenciji i tretmanu hipertenzije (hidrolizati proteina soje, surutke, sardine i pšeničnih klica, ω-3 i ω-6 polinezasićene masne kiseline, zeleni i crni čaj, pečurke, vitamin B6, L-arginin, flavonoidi, taurin, alicin iz belog luka, aktivni sastojci gloga) imaju dejstvo slično pojedinim grupama antihipertenzivnih lekova (diuretici, β-blokatori, blokatori kalcijumskih kanala, ACE inhibitori i blokatori angiotenzinskih receptora, centralni α-agonisti, direktni vazodilatatori). Prirodne komponente su od značaja u prevenciji hipertenzije, ali njihova potentnost nije dovoljna da smanji povećani krvni pritisak. Međutim, pojedine prirodne komponente hrane u kombinaciji sa antihipertenzivnim lekovima mogu delovati sinergistički, te se uz odgovarajuću ishranu medikamentoznom terapijom može postići bolji efekat.