Mohamed J. Saadh - Faculty of Pharmacy, Middle East University, Amman, Jordan
Sivapriya Thiyagarajan - Department of Food Technology, Hindustan Institute of Technology and Science, Padur, Chennai, India
Juan Carlos Cotrina-Aliaga - Faculty of Engineering, Universidad Peruana los Andes, Huancayo, Peru
Mohammed I. Suleiman - Department of Anesthesia Techniques, Al-Noor University College, Nineveh, Iraq
Ali A. Fahdil - Medical Technical College, Al-Farahidi University, Baghdad, Iraq
Salam Ahjel - Department of Pharmacy, Al-Zahrawi University College, Karbala, Iraq
Abtin Soleimanian - Department of Medicinal Chemistry, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tehran Medical Sciences, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
Mahmoud Mirzaei - Laboratory of Molecular Computations (LMC), Department of Natural and Mathematical Sciences, Faculty of Engineering, Tarsus University, Tarsus, Turkey
Kun Harismah - Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Muhammadiyah Surakarta, Surakarta, Indonesia

By the importance of dealing with metabolic syndrome (MetS), this work was performed to systematically review available articles on effects of stevia on hypertension as a leading risk factor of metabolic syndrome. The stevia extracts are natural resource of non-caloric sweeteners and they attracted attentions of researchers especially in recent years for dealing with the issues of metabolic syndrome. To this aim, stevia effects on hypertension were reviewed based on the obtained results of original research publications of the following electronic databases: Web of Science, Scopus, and PubMed, from ۲۰۱۰ to June ۲۰۲۲. The following search strategy was used: (stevia OR stevia rebaudiana OR sweet leaf OR stevioside) AND (hypertension OR blood pressure). Six articles were eligible to be included in this review; three in vivo studies, one in vivo/in vitro study, and two clinical trials. Based on the results of in vivo studies, positive effects of stevia on lowering blood pressure were found besides observing an enzymatic inhibition activity through the in vitro results. The results of one of clinical trials reported a significant reduction in blood pressure after twelve weeks of stevia consumption, but the other one did not report any significant effect. Although the relatively low methodological rigor of these experiments limits the strength of these findings, further clinical trials and regulatory assessments are warranted.

Hypertension, Metabolic Syndrome, Natural products, Stevia