Researchers creating a map of human metabolism around the world have found compounds in urine that point to some surprising differences affecting blood pressure, based not on genes but on what people eat and their gut bacteria

They hope their findings, published in the journal Nature on Sunday, can help lead to the development of new drugs to fight high blood pressure or perhaps even non-drug therapy

The best-known cause is high salt intake, but a diet rich in vegetables and certain minerals and steady exercise can lower blood pressure

Nicholson's team was looking for more evidence linking salt with high blood pressure

One link they found was a compound called formic acid or formate

It may be involved in processing chloride from salt in the kidney

They also found that people with higher levels of an amino acid called alanine in their urine had higher blood pressure. The same team had earlier shown that people who eat more meat and other animal products had higher alanine levels