LEP and Hypertension: Other researchers have suggested obesity itself may be a contributory factor in developing hypertension [17, 21, 22] implicating factors such as insulin and leptin mediated stimulation of the sympathetic nervous system, and subsequent activation of renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system [17, 23] as well as micro-vascular damage and endothelial dysfunction associated with increased peripheral vascular resistance [24].