Role of Antioxidant-Rich Nutraceutical on Body Weights and Mean Arterial Blood Pressure of Salt-Induced Hypertensive Rats

Hypertension or high blood pressure is a medical condition in which blood pressure in the vessels is persistently elevated. The study aim to formulate an antioxidant rich nutraceutical from locally available food stuff (onion, garlic, ginger, tomato, lemon, palm oil, water melon seeds) and investigate their effects on blood pressure and body weight in salt-induced rats. The rats were placed on 8% salt diet for 6 weeks and then supplementation and treatment with nutraceutical and nifedipine in the presence of salt diet for additional 4 weeks. Feeding rats with salt diet for 6 weeks increased blood pressure and body weight of the salt-loaded rats relative to control. Both supplementation and treatment (nifedipine) lowered the blood pressure but only supplementation lowered the body weight. Antioxidantrich nutraceutical might be beneficial in the managements of patients with hypertension and obesity.