Flaxseed for Hypertension: Implications for Blood Pressure Regulation

Abstract

Hypertension is the single largest risk factor attributed to mortality in the world. Medications are the primary treatment for hypertension; however, adherence to drug regimens is low (~50 %). Low adherence may be a contributing factor leading to uncontrolled blood pressure in patients. An effective alternative or complement to medications in managing hypertension is through lifestyle modifications. Adopting a healthy diet is a valuable strategy. A recent, randomized controlled year-long trial observed impressive reductions in blood pressure in patients with hypertension consuming flaxseed daily. Therefore, attention has been garnered for flaxseed as a potentially valuable strategy for the management of hypertension. This review will highlight the recent data for flaxseed and its extracts in blood pressure regulation in both animal models and clinical trials. Insight into the proposed anti-hypertensive mechanism of flaxseed and the implications of flaxseed as a potential global anti-hypertensive therapy will be discussed.

Effects of flaxseed supplements on blood pressure: A systematic review and meta-analysis of controlled clinical trial

“…It has been shown in Sprague Dawley male rats that SDG reduced angiotensin I-induced increase of BP through stimulation of guanylate cyclase enzyme [36]. Another important component of flaxseed, ALA is the main component of flaxseed which reduce the values of BP, through its ability to reduce the activity of soluble epoxide hydrolase [7]. It has been shown that these pro-inflammatory oxylipins produced by soluble epoxide hydrolase are responsible for loss of vasodilatation and progression of inflammation in arterial hypertension [7].…”

“…Another important component of flaxseed, ALA is the main component of flaxseed which reduce the values of BP, through its ability to reduce the activity of soluble epoxide hydrolase [7]. It has been shown that these pro-inflammatory oxylipins produced by soluble epoxide hydrolase are responsible for loss of vasodilatation and progression of inflammation in arterial hypertension [7]. However, a recent human study proved that flaxseed might reduce inflammation by decreasing the levels of neutrophil aggregating oxylipins [6].…”

“…Flaxseed (Linum usitatissimum), an oilseed crop grown on all continents and highly accessible, has been shown to decrease the risk of cardiovascular disease by decreasing lipid profile parameters [2], plasma trans fats [3], atherogenicity [4,5], glycemia [2] or pro-inflammatory oxylipins [6]. Furthermore, flaxseed and its components have been associated with blood pressure (BP) reduction in many animal studies and randomized controlled trials [7]. Flaxseed is composed of enterolignan precursors, primarly secoisolariciresinol diglucoside (SDG) [6], total fibers, omega -3 fatty acids and alpha linolenic acid (ALA) [8].…”

Stability of bioactives in flaxseed and flaxseed-fortified foods

“…The ability for n−3 fatty acids in flaxseed to reduce blood pressure has been clearly documented (Caligiuri, Edel, Aliani, and Pierce, 2014;Ueshima et al, 2007). Several studies in humans have demonstrated the ability of ALA or FXO to reduce diastolic blood pressure (DBP) (West et al, 2010), systolic blood pressure (SBP) (Djoussé et al, 2005) or both DBP and SBP (Paschos, Magkos, Panagiotakos, Votteas, and Zampelas, 2007;Rodriguez-Leyva et al, 2013;Takeuchi et al, 2007).…”

Designing low-cost “heart healthy bread”: optimization using linear programing and 15-country comparison

“…Although outside of the CVD perspective, we note that dietary fiber from whole grains also appears to protect against colorectal cancer in another systematic review [31]. Linseed, as this is high in dietary fiber, lignans and n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) and there is some evidence for CVD-related benefits as per three reviews [32][33][34] and a recent trial [35]. More specifically, two meta-analyses report blood pressure reduction associated with linseed consumption [21,22].…”