Protein-Rich Food: As Good As Quitting Smoking or Getting More Exercise?

According to the University of East Anglia (UEA), eating amino-acid rich food is as healthy for you as quitting smoking or exercising more often.

Researchers at UEA investigated the effect of seven different amino acids on cardiovascular health among a group of 2,000 women with a healthy body mass index (BMI). The research data came from TwinsUK - the largest resgistry of twins in the United Kingdom, consisting of 12,000 twins. TwinsUK is used to study genetic and environmental causes of age-related diseases.

UEA researchers studied the diet of the 2,00 women, and compared it to clinical measures of blood pressure and blood vessel thickness and stiffness, according to the study.

They found strong evidence that those who consumed the highest amounts of amino acids had lower measures of blood pressure and arterial stiffness. But, the sources of food were important. The amino-acid intake was only positive for blood pressure when the amino-acids were received from plant-based sources, while arterial stiffness was lowered from animal-based amino-acids.

"This research shows a protective effect of several amino acids on cardiovascular health. Increasing intake from protein-rich foods such as meat, fish, dairy produce, beans, lentils, broccoli and spinach could be an important and readily achievable way to reduce people's risk of cardiovascular disease," lead researcher Dr. Amy Jennings, from UEA's Norwich Medical School, said.

Jennings said that previous studies have shown that dietary protein increases can be associated with lower blood pressure, but the UEA's study took it a step further, examining which specific amino-acids did the trick.

The amino-acids examined were arginine, cysteine, glutamic acid, glycine, histidine, leucine, and tyrosine. Three of them: glutamic acid, leucine, and tyrosine, are found in animal sources, and a higher intake of these was associated with lower levels of arterial stiffness. 

Meanwhile, all seven were associated with lower blood pressure, especially those coming from plant sources. 

"The really surprising thing that we found is that amino acid intake has as much of an effect on blood pressure as established lifestyle risk factors such as salt intake, physical activity and alcohol consumption," said Jennings. "For arterial stiffness, the association was similar to the magnitude of change previously associated with not smoking."

Jennings also said that high blood pressure is one of the biggest risk factors in the development of cardiovascular disease. "A reduction in blood pressure leads to a reduction in mortality caused by stroke or coronary heart disease - so changing your diet to include more meat, fish, dairy produce and pulses could help both prevent and treat the condition," she added.

A daily amount considered beneficial would be the equivalent of a 75g portion of steak, a 500mL glass of skim milk, or a 100g salmon fillet.

Professor Tim Spector, from the department of Twin Research at King's College London, said, "The finding that eating certain meat and plant proteins are linked to healthier blood pressure is an exciting finding. We need to understand the mechanism to see if it is direct or via our gut microbes." 

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