Effects of Stevia on Hypertension of Metabolic Syndrome: A Systematic Review

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 2010 to June 2022. 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.