Washington, Apr 3 (ANI): Chicken soup with matzoh balls can help combat high blood pressure, say researchers.

According to lead researcher Ai Saiga, from Japan, the popular home remedy also used to treat common cold sometimes can help fight high blood pressure.

Previous studies have shown that chicken breast contains collagen proteins with effects similar to ACE inhibitors, mainstay medications for treating high blood pressure.

But there are such small amounts of the proteins that it could not be used to develop food and medical products for high blood pressure.

However, the new study suggests that chicken legs and feet, often discarded as waste products in appear to be a better source.

During the study, Saiga extracted collagen from chicken legs and tested its ability to act as an ACE inhibitor in the laboratory studies.

They identified four different proteins in the collagen mixture with high ACE-inhibitory activity.

When they were given to rats used to model human high blood pressure, the proteins produced a significant and prolonged decrease in blood pressure.

The findings are published in the American Chemical Society’s Journal of Agricultural and Food