High blood pressure is one of the leading risk factors for heart disease, stroke and other adverse cardiovascular conditions. Lowering your blood pressure -- even slightly -- can have big benefits. And now, according to researchers from the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago, one of the most common amino acids in vegetable protein -- glutamic acid -- appears to help do the trick.

The team of researchers analyzed data from 4,680 people who had participated in an international diet study. Participants were from several countries, including the United States, China, Japan and the United Kingdom. The researchers found that a 4.72 percent higher intake of glutamic acid as a portion of total dietary protein resulted in a 1.5- to 3-point reduction in average systolic blood pressure and a 1- to 1.6-point lower diastolic pressure. 

”The point difference might not sound like much, but high blood pressure is a leading risk factor for heart disease, stroke and other cardiovascular problems, and a reduction on that scale could cut stroke death rates by 6 percent and coronary heart disease deaths by 4 percent,” points out study author Dr. Jeremiah Stamler, professor emeritus of preventive medicine at the Feinberg School of Medicine. And notes Ian J. Brown, a research associate in epidemiology and public health at Imperial College London, and a member of the research team, “It is compatible with earlier findings that a diet high in vegetable proteins, those found in beans, whole grains, rice, soy products and bread, is associated with lower blood pressure.” Dr. Stamler adds that “the fact that the most important amino acid in vegetable protein is related to blood pressure supports the inference that a diet high in vegetable protein and low in animal protein has favorable effects on blood pressure.” Glutamic acid, the most common of all amino acids, accounts for 23 percent of vegetable protein and 18 percent of meat protein.

Researchers warn, however, people should not use the study as license to take glutamic acid supplements instead of including a healthy amount of vegetables in their diets. “We make a clear statement that there are no data on supplements of glutamic acid to tell us anything one way or another about their value," Dr. Stamler emphasizes.

 News Release: Vegetable amino acid lowers blood pressure http://www.ajc.com/health/content/shared-auto/healthnews/blpr/628747.html  July 8, 2009