“Eat your peas,” I tell my children, as Mom once told me. As usual, mother knows best — peas, once viewed as a starchy vegetable, are now being recognized as nutritional blockbusters, packed with protein, assorted nutrients and fiber, and free of fat and cholesterol. Even better, Canadian food chemists have discovered a protein in yellow garden peas that shows promise in treating high blood pressure and chronic kidney disease (CKD).
Peas reducing blood pressure world wide
While researching treatment options for patients with kidney disease, Rotimi Aluko, PhD, an associate professor in the department of nutritional sciences at the University of Manitoba, in Winnipeg, Canada, and colleagues purified a mixture of proteins — pea protein hydrolysate — from yellow peas. They fed this to rats with severe kidney disease every day for eight weeks. At the end of this period, Dr. Aluko and his team found that…
- Blood pressure decreased by 20% in rats who consumed the pea mixture, compared with a control group of rats who did not.
- Urine production, which typically decreases with kidney disease, improved by 30% in treated rats, bringing it to a normal level.
What’s Next: Pea Pills for the Heart and Kidneys
Given these promising results, trials are now underway in humans with mild hypertension, and — subject to regulatory approval — Dr. Aluko estimates that an edible product derived from peas could be available in as little as two to three years. By 2012, you may be able to stroll into your local pharmacy or health food store and purchase pea extract in pill form or as a powder to add to food or beverages. As for eating peas themselves, Dr. Aluko explained that for this purpose pea proteins must be treated with special enzymes in order to become active. But he agreed that they’re healthy anyway — so tell the kids and adults at the table to eat their peas, please.
Source(s):
Rotimi Aluko, PhD, associate professor, University of Manitoba, Department of Human Nutritional Sciences, Winnipeg, Canada.
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Reprinted with the permission of:
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