Abstract
Objectives
Hypertension is becoming more prevalent and one of the main cause is found in the increase of excessive dietary sodium intake. It is also risk factors for cardiovascular and kidney disease. Korean Traditional Fermented Food, doenjang, is made with high salt, so many of them are thinking that there is a lot of relation to hypertension despite reporting many health benefits. Our previous studies reported that doenjang have been associated effect of anti-obesity in human and animal study. Therefore, we expected that doenjang may have different effects on blood pressure and lipid metabolism compared to same concentrations of salt.
Methods
In this study, Sprague-Dawley rats divided into four groups, normal diet (ND), high fat diet (HD), high fat diet with 8% table salt (HDS), high fat diet with Doenjang contains 8% table salt (HDJ) for 13 weeks. The systolic blood pressure (SBP), serum chemistry, Na+ and K+ concentrations, liver and renal gene expressions were measured.
Results
Doenjang decreased systolic blood pressure (SBP), body weight and hepatic lipids. Serum chemistry, leptin and aldosterone levels were increased in HD and HDS groups while decreased in HDJ group. Results from analysing feces and urine, Na+, Ca+ and K+concentrations were changed by Doenjang. Furthermore, fatty acid synthesis-related genes expression was decreased in liver and downregulated the renin, AT1 receptor and ACE in renal cortex of doenjang treatment group.
Conclusions
These results suggest that doenjang may have anti-obesity and anti-hypertension through regulation of the renin angiotensin system. We believed that it is an important result of demonstrating that doenjang has health benefits regardless of salt content.
Funding Sources
This work was supported by the Korea Science and Engineering Foundation (KOSEF) grant funded by the Korea government (MEST) (No. 2018R1A2B6006477).