Probiotics supplementation complementary therapy for control of high BP

The umbrella meta-analysis published in Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases showed that probiotics supplementation improves blood pressure (systolic and diastolic).

Previous studies have shown hypertension (HTN) to be firmly and directly associated with the risk of chronic disease, stroke, myocardial infarction, kidney diseases, and type 2 diabetes. In the last thirty years, HTN prevalence has doubled to 1.28 billion. Treatment with antihypertensive can have side effects, and often treatment adherence is reduced following long-term use. In this light, developing novel therapeutic methods such as gut microbiota modulatory agents is critical. Diet can impact the gut microbiota, but it appears to be temporary. It is not known if prolonged changes in diet induce permanent changes in the gut microbiota, primarily due to a lack of long-term studies on the human diet.

Recent studies have shown that probiotics could lower blood pressure, but the findings need to be more consistent. Therefore, Meysam Zarezadeh from Tabriz University of Medical Sciences in Tabriz, Iran, and colleagues carried out an umbrella meta-analysis to provide a more accurate estimate of the overall impacts of probiotics supplementation on blood pressure.

The team searched the international databases till November 2021 to evaluate the effects of probiotics on BP. Sensitivity analysis was performed using the leave-one-out method. GRADE (Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation) was used to assess the evidence's certainty.