Inflammation and Hypertension: The Interplay of Interleukin-6, Dietary Sodium, and the Renin-Angiotensin System in Humans

Abstract

These findings confirm an association between hypertension and inflammation and provide human data supporting previous evidence from animal studies that IL-6 plays a role in ANGII-mediated hypertension. Notably, compared to levels on a liberal sodium diet, neither IL-6 nor CRP were higher with activation of the RAS by a low salt diet indicating that a low sodium diet is not inflammatory despite increased RAS activity.