For more than 40 years, researchers have suspected there must be a natural hormone that could safely flush sodium out of the body and could be harnessed to develop more effective and safer treatments for high blood pressure, or hypertension. Currently, drugs that lower sodium levels all have serious side effects because they also reduce potassium levels. Researchers at Cornell and the Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research (BTI) have used a new technique and identified a hormone from human urine -- a xanthurenic-acid derivative -- that seems able to do the job. The discovery opens the door to developing novel medications to control sodium levels and treat hypertension. Read full article.
