The era of rapid, modern development has brought us into a life filled with a whole new range of lifestyle choices that can be made. However, these developments have led to an increased sedentary lifestyle. Additionally, jobs have become more demanding, leading to more work-related stress. These are just some of the issues that have led to one of the biggest health consequences of changing lifestyles, an increased prevalence of hypertension. The Center of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that one-third of the adult population suffers from hypertension in the United States itself (Fang et al., 2013). In this trial, the problem of hypertension will be highlighted as well as the development of treatments against it, more specifically the development of angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors. Hypertension is known as the precursor to many serious life-threatening illnesses and can also lead to fatal cases of heart attacks and strokes. It does this by impeding blood flow to vital organs and increasing the amount of plaque accumulated in blood vessels (Patlak, 2004). Several different treatments have been developed over the years in an effort to combat the disease. Medications used to treat hypertension include diuretics, beta blockers, and calcium channel blockers (Patlak, 2004). These medications work by inhibiting the function of certain aspects of the body involved in regulating blood pressure. For example, diuretics have been developed to increase the absorption of sodium and other salts in urine by inhibiting carbonic anhydrase (Kenny, 2014; Patlak, 2004). This reduces blood volume, thereby lowering blood pressure (Kenny, 2014). However, diuretics have been associated with...... middle of article......14]Sweitzer, N., 2003. What is an ACE inhibitor angiotensin? Traffic. [e-journal] 2003(108) pp. e16-e18 Available at: [Accessed May 9, 2014]Touyz, RM and Schiffrin, EL, 1997. Angiotensin II regulates pH, contraction and growth of vascular smooth muscle cells via tyrosine kinase-dependent signaling pathways . Hypertension [e-journal] 1997(30), pp.222-229 Available on: [Accessed May 8, 2014]Wolf, G., Ziyadeh, FN, Zahner G. and Stahl, RAK, 1996. Angiotensin II is mitogenic for cultured rat glomerular endothelial cells. Hypertension. [electronic journal] 1996(27), pp. 897-905 Available on: [Consulted May 9 2014]