Chicken Soup Can Help Fight High Blood Pressure

Popular home remedy for common cold, chicken soup may have a role in fighting high blood pressure, researchers in Japan have learnt.

An article on the study has been published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.
Nippon Meat Packers researcher Ai Saiga, says that chicken breast contains collagen proteins with effects similar to ACE inhibitors, mainstay medications for treating high blood pressure.

Saiga, insists that chicken soup, also known as "Grandma's Penicillin", appear to be a great source of collagen proteins.

During the study, the researchers extracted collagen from chicken legs and tested its ability to act as an ACE inhibitor in the laboratory studies.

They identified four different proteins in the collagen mixture with high ACE-inhibitory activity.
The proteins were then administered to rats used to model human high blood pressure, which produced a significant and prolonged decrease in blood pressure, according to the researchers.

The researcher concedes that chicken breast contains such small amounts of the proteins that it cannot be used to develop food and medical products for high blood pressure.