Scientists have unexpectedly discovered that zinc could potentially offer a new treatment for hypertension.
Metals such as potassium and calcium are well known to manage blood pressure, but study results have shown how zinc can relax the blood vessel walls.
The findings were recently published in Nature Communications.
“Fundamental discoveries going back more than 60 years have established that the levels of the calcium and potassium in the muscle surrounding blood vessels control how they expand and contract,” lead author Ashenafi Betrie, Ph.D., and senior authors Scott Ayton, Ph.D., and Christine Wright, Ph.D., of the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health and the University of Melbourne in Australia said in a press release.
High blood pressure affects an estimated 103 million U.S. adults — almost half of the adult population — according to the American Heart Association. As the older adult population increases, that number is expected to rise.
Potassium-rich foods such as apricots, potatoes, spinach and tuna play an important role in hypertension control because they reduce the effects of sodium, the AHA said. It helps more sodium release through urine and eases blood vessel wall tension.
Meanwhile, Harvard Health Publishing says calcium assists in helping blood vessels restrict and relax when needed. This is important for healthy blood pressure. Leafy greens, cheese and canned salmon are calcium-rich foods.
But zinc, which is found in lobster, crab, broccoli, mushrooms, pumpkin seeds and pine nuts, has also been found to manage blood pressure.
“Our discovery that zinc is also important was serendipitous because we’d been researching the brain, not blood pressure,” says Betrie. “We were investigating the impact of zinc-based drugs on brain function in Alzheimer’s disease when we noticed a pronounced and unexpected decrease in blood pressure in mouse models treated with the drugs.”
Investigators saw zinc’s synchronized behavior inside sensory nerves, endothelial cells — those that make the barrier between vessels and tissues — and artery muscles, lead to decreased calcium levels in blood vessels. The vessels relax, blood pressure is lowered and blood flow is boosted. Researchers discovered blood vessels in the brain and heart were more sensitive to zinc than other blood vessels in the body.
“Essentially, zinc has the opposite effect to calcium on blood flow and pressure,” Ayton said. “Zinc is an important metal ion in biology and, given that calcium and potassium are famous for controlling blood flow and pressure, it’s surprising that the role of zinc hasn’t previously been appreciated.”
The new research also explains why zinc is linked to hypertension and other cardiovascular diseases. High blood pressure is also a zinc deficiency side effect. This new research provides explanations for these previously known associations.
More research is needed on the findings, but Wright said “new zinc-based blood pressure drugs would be a huge outcome for an accidental discovery.”
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