Could hemp seed be another useful tool for managing high blood pressure? This study indicates it could be.
There’s a lot to like about hemp seed as a food. High in protein, vitamins and minerals, fibre and beneficial fatty acids – but low in bad fats – hemp seed is probably well deserving of the term “superfood”.
Researchers from Canada’s University of Manitoba and Seven Oaks General Hospital set out to determine if hemp seed protein (HSP) and its hydrolysate-derived bioactive peptide (HSP+) had an effect on blood pressure (BP); something that had not been researched in humans previously to the best of their knowledge.
In a double-blind, randomized, cross-over design trial, 35 adults who had mild hypertension with systolic blood pressure (SBP) between 130 and 160 mmHg and diastolic blood pressure of ≤110 mmHg were randomly assigned to varying sequences of three 6-week treatments: 50 g/d of casein, HSP, and HSP, 45 g/d plus HSP derived bioactive peptides (HSP+), 5 g/d. These treatments were separated by 2-week washout period.
Compared with casein, after HSP+ consumption, 24hrSBP and 24hrDBP decreased from 135.1 and 80.0 mmHg to 128.1 ± 1.6 and 76.0 ± 1.4 mmHg. These values were 133.5 ± 1.6 and 78.9 ± 1.4 after HSP consumption.
The researchers’ conclusion:
“These results suggest that hemp protein consumption, as well as in combination with bioactive peptides, may have a role in the dietary management of hypertension.”
The study has been published in The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Hypertension is a common condition, particularly in developed countries. Here in Australia, 11.6% of people (all ages) reported having hypertension in 2022, a slight increase since 2011–12 (10.2%). 45.2% of all Australians aged 75 years and over reported hypertension. However, 74.5% of Australian adults with high measured blood pressure did not report having hypertension.
In the USA, nearly half of adults have hypertension. Hypertension was a primary or contributing cause of 691,095 deaths in the United States in 2021, and the condition costs the US economy around $131 billion each year
Hypertension is usually defined as a systolic blood pressure greater than 130 mmHg or a diastolic blood pressure greater than 80 mmHg.
