Probiotic use in the management of hypertension: A new era of therapeutic management

Abstract

Hypertension (HTN) has become a common chronic medical condition which affects ≥20% of adult population worldwide. HTN is assumed to be a major contributing factor for increasing complication of metabolic syndrome by adding one or more comorbidities such as heart disease, stroke, chronic renal failure, myocardial infarction, blindness, and dementia. HTN is also considered as a lifestyle disorder, and there are mainly two types of HTN, namely primary and secondary. Primary HTN is about 90%–95% of all cases of HTN and it is defined as high blood pressure due to genetic factors and nonspecific lifestyle, while secondary HTN is due to an identifiable cause such as Cushing's syndrome, obesity, and glucose intolerance. However, the exact cause and pathophysiology of HTN is still not clear. On the other hand, human body acts as a host and around 100 trillion bacteria are present in the body which is 10 times more than the number of cells in the human body. Many studies have published the role of microbiome in health and disease. Recent findings have shed light on the important role of microbiota in HTN and its treatment with probiotics (beneficial microbiota to host). Considering this, here, we have summarized and focused on possible interplays between the HTN microbiota, pharmacotherapeutic use of probiotics in HTN, and prospects to increase the degree of therapeutic personalization.

Keywords

• Gut microbiota
• hypertension
• metabolic syndrome
• probiotics