Towards the management of hypertension: Modulation of the

Abstract

In response to the side effects of antihypertensive drugs, dietary and lifestyle modification approaches have becomealternative strategies for prevention and modulation of mild hypertension. Moreover, the use of low molecular size bioactivepeptides (BAPs) as antihypertensive agents has gained particular attention as a result of the safety, low cost, and consumerpreference for natural health products compared to drugs. BAPs are produced by enzymatic hydrolysis of food proteins followedby post-hydrolysis processing to fractionate the active peptides. Antihypertensive BAPs exert their effect mostly by modulatingthe renin-angiotensin system pathway leading to decrease in vasoactive peptides with concomitant reduction of elevated bloodpressure associated with hypertension in animal models and humans. This review revisits the prevalence of hypertension and themolecular basis of activity, bioavailability and safety of BAPS as well as contradictions and controversies on the use of peptides asantihypertensive agents.