NPPB and Hypertension: Because overweight, the strongest risk factor for hypertension [19,20–23], is associated with lower circulating concentrations of natriuretic peptides [4,7,15,16,35] it is reasonable to speculate that a least part of the overweight-related hypertension is mediated by a lack of activation of the antihypertensive cardiac hormones ANP and BNP in the early stages of the disease, an idea our study also supports.