Those told to eat their peas and carrots as children now may want to take a second look at peas to help fight high blood pressure and chronic kidney disease, says a new study that could lead to new nutritional health supplements.

Working with the yellow garden pea, Canadian scientists purified a mixture of proteins and tested the substance on rats with polycystic kidney disease, and found that blood pressure of the participants dropped 20 percent over the eight-week study.

Researcher Halumi Aluko called the findings significant, citing the fact that most “patients actually die from cardiovascular complications that arise from the high blood pressure associated with kidney malfunction.”

Further testing on the pea extract for patients with hypertension is planned at the University of Manitoba, although a product based on the research may not hit shelves for another two to three years.

Previous research on PKD, which affects 26 million Americans, has searched for improved screening methods, as well as connection to hypertensive-related diseases such as diabetes.