Targeting Gut Microbiota to Treat Hypertension: A Systematic Review

Joonatan Palmu, Leo Lahti and Teemu Niiranen
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Joonatan Palmu: Department of Medicine, University of Turku, FI-20014 Turku, Finland
Leo Lahti: Department of Computing, University of Turku, FI-20014 Turku, Finland
Teemu Niiranen: Department of Medicine, University of Turku, FI-20014 Turku, Finland

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 3, 1-14

Abstract: While hypertension remains the leading modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, the pathogenesis of essential hypertension remains only partially understood. Recently, microbial dysbiosis has been associated with multiple chronic diseases closely related to hypertension. In addition, multiple small-scale animal and human studies have provided promising results for the association between gut microbial dysbiosis and hypertension. Animal models and a small human pilot study, have demonstrated that high salt intake, a risk factor for both hypertension and cardiovascular disease, depletes certain Lactobacillus species while oral treatment of Lactobacilli prevented salt-sensitive hypertension. To date, four large cohort studies have reported modest associations between gut microbiota features and hypertension. In this systematic literature review, we examine the previously reported links between the gut microbiota and hypertension and what is known about the functional mechanisms behind this association.

Keywords: blood pressure; dietary sodium; gut microbiota; hypertension; lactobacillus; salt intake (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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