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posted by Fnord666 on Sunday June 28 2020, @05:08PM   Printer-friendly
from the a-spoonful-of-sushi dept.

Researchers have developed a transgenic rice strain which lowers blood pressure in laboratory rats. Genes from unrelated organisms were artificially introduced into the rice to cause production of ten different blood pressure affecting peptides.

In the future, taking your blood pressure medication could be as simple as eating a spoonful of rice. This "treatment" could also have fewer side effects than current blood pressure medicines. As a first step, researchers reporting in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry have made transgenic rice that contains several anti-hypertensive peptides. When given to hypertensive rats, the rice lowered their blood pressure.

The rice contains natural ACE inhibitors which help to regulate blood pressure and don't have the side effects often associated with pharmaceutical ACE inhibitors such as "dry cough, headache, skin rashes and kidney impairment."

Two hours after treatment, hypertensive rats showed a reduction in blood pressure, while rats treated with wild-type rice proteins did not. Treatment of rats over a 5-week period with flour from the transgenic rice also reduced blood pressure, and this effect remained 1 week later. The treated rats had no obvious side effects in terms of growth, development or blood biochemistry.

In the United States, Hypertension affects almost half of the adult population and is a primary or contributing cause of death for about half a million people per year.

Journal Reference:
Hypotensive Activity of Transgenic Rice Seed Accumulating Multiple Antihypertensive Peptides, Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry (DOI: 10.1021/acs.jafc.0c01958)


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 28 2020, @10:54PM (7 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 28 2020, @10:54PM (#1013877)

    There have been studies showing that Red Yeast Rice, with more than trace amounts of naturally occurring Lovastatin, is safer and more effective than many drugs out there at reducing bad cholesterol and increasing good cholesterol.

    Then the FDA arbitrarily banned RYR with more than trace amounts of naturally occurring Lovastatin for no good reason. The real reason is probably because it competes with pharmaceuticals. Of course their excuse had to do with the alleged safety but the evidence has shown that it's safe (it may have side effects if you give a mouse an insanely high amount of RYR with very unrealistically high Lovastatin levels all at once but one would be very hard pressed to create a study showing that. You can show that way too much water is bad for you).

    The FDA shouldn't be allowed to micromanage our health. When they do they end up managing our health in corporate interests. I should be allowed to decide what I think is best for me, not the government.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 28 2020, @11:01PM (6 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 28 2020, @11:01PM (#1013878)

    (Same Poster)

    Also, just because a pharmaceutical company makes a drug out of a naturally occurring substance doesn't give the FDA any right to suddenly ban a naturally occurring source of said substance (just because said source competes with pharmaceutical corporations).

    Otherwise if vitamin C is declared a drug suddenly the FDA can say Apples can't contain vitamin C. Ridiculous.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 28 2020, @11:17PM (5 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 28 2020, @11:17PM (#1013884)

      (Same Poster)

      I read the Wikipedia article on RYR and the truth is a little bit more nuanced but I still think the FDA shouldn't micromanage my health.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_yeast_rice [wikipedia.org]

      But perhaps some regulations requiring manufacturers to label the lovastatin and citrinin levels or perhaps to limit citrinin.

      • (Score: 2) by takyon on Monday June 29 2020, @12:19AM (4 children)

        by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Monday June 29 2020, @12:19AM (#1013899) Journal

        I was reading that before you posted. I'm glad to see that you are walking that back a little.

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dietary_supplement#Adulteration [wikipedia.org]

        You probably aren't going to get accurate labeling of contents without some micromanagement, or otherwise a completely different (and expensive) approach toward supplements.

        Lovastatin is just another drug treating the symptom, not the real problem (aging). Compounds related to anti-aging are the ones to watch. It would be wild if FDA blocked something that could add decades to life/healthspan. Although if it was very clear cut, there would be a black market for it instantly.

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        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 29 2020, @11:19AM (3 children)

          by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 29 2020, @11:19AM (#1014014)

          I don't mind the FDA micromanaging the labeling to ensure it's complete and accurate but I don't want them micromanaging the content.

          I also don't really believe the FDA has the public interest in mind. They are a very corrupt organization with a lot of conflicts of interest. But I know I have my own interests in mind so I want to be able to manage my own health without them enforcing their will on what they think is best for me with the primary intent of making sure I pay a lot more for everything.

          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 29 2020, @02:02PM (2 children)

            by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 29 2020, @02:02PM (#1014072)

            The FDA was created because it turns out that companies need to be micromanaged. Before the FDA there were outright poisons being put into patent medicine and there was no telling what sort of toxins were making their way into the food supply due to a lack of care or as an intentional additive.

            • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 29 2020, @04:42PM (1 child)

              by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 29 2020, @04:42PM (#1014150)

              Trying to micromanage me (especially with the intend of making me pay more for something that occurs naturally or for banning naturally occurring substances with the intend of making me pay more for pharmaceutical alternatives) is the problem.

              I have every right to decide if I want RYR with more than trace amounts of lovastatin and the FDA has absolutely zero right to tell me that I can't have it because it competes with a pharmaceutical alternative.

              "The FDA was created because it turns out that companies need to be micromanaged."

              I don't need to be micromanaged. I don't want to be micromanaged. If you want the FDA to micromanage your life that's your choice. But you have absolutely zero right to use government to impose your will on ME. You can make your own health decisions. Don't use government to make mine for me. What the FDA is doing here is micromanaging my decisions in the interests of pharmaceutical corporations with the intent of making me pay more for a pharmaceutical alternative.

              • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 29 2020, @04:55PM

                by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 29 2020, @04:55PM (#1014157)

                (BTW, I'm not on any statins or anything, I have no health problems AFAIK thank God, and I do think the FDA is important, I just don't think the FDA has a right to force its will on anyone the way it does. There are so many things wrong with the FDA and the FDA would be far more restrictive if the law allows it to, which is why the Dietary Health and Education Act of 1994 was passed, and they would not even allow terminal patients to try experimental drugs without approval and by the time approval happens, if it ever happens, it's too late. Trump finally passed a bill saying that it's OK finally putting some sanity back in the legal system with regards to that though I do disagree with Trump on other issues. The FDA really hinders innovation and really does not have the public interest in mind much like the rest of the government).