Scientists develop genetically modified rice that could help treat high blood pressure

Altered grain could allow adult to be treated with daily half spoon of rice

Scientists say they have developed a strain of rice that can tackle hypertension with no obvious side effects (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

Scientists have developed a genetically modified strain of rice that could help fight against cardiovascular diseases and strokes.

High blood pressure, or hypertension, can serve as a major risk factor when it comes to heart problems — and are often treated by a type of synthetic drugs known as ACE inhibitors, carrying a number of side effects including dry cough, headache, skin rashes and kidney impairment.

However some naturally-occurring ACE inhibitors can be found in certain food items like milk, eggs, fish, meat and plants — showing fewer side effects but proving to have been too expensive and time consuming to merit purifying them on their own.

Now, in a study published in the American Chemical Society’s Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, scientists say they have developed a strain of rice that can tackle hypertension with no obvious side effects.

Researchers from the Chinese Academy of Science in Beijing introduced a gene to rice plants, which included nine ACE-inhibitory peptides and a blood-vessel-relaxing peptide linked together.

When fed to rats, the test subjects showed a reduction in blood pressure and no side effects impacting their growth, development or blood biochemistry over a five-week period, according to the study.

Now scientists believe that the same peptide-laden rice could be applied to humans — with a 150-pound adult only needing half a tablespoon of the grain daily to treat and manage their high blood pressure.

It is not the first time rice has been adapted to add nutritional benefit. Genetically modified golden rice was altered to help people take on Vitamin A — fighting blindness and disease — at the start of the century.

However environmental groups have remained staunchly opposed to GM crops, while international treaties on biosafety make it difficult for those seeking to adapt the food items to disseminate their work