We investigated the effects on blood pressure of 5% taurine administered prenatally or postnatally via maternal parents in stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRSP). Prenatal and/or postnatal administration of taurine produced a blood pressure reduction in the offspring until at least 3 months of age. Furthermore, offspring exposed to high concentrations of taurine through the placenta during the prenatal period and also for 1 month after birth via maternal milk, showed a greater reduction in blood pressure than the group given taurine prenatally but not postnatally. The stroke-prone SHR were fed a high-fat cholesterol and low-protein diet containing 1% methionine or with 3% lysine in drinking water, and effects of the dietary amino acids on the development of atherogenesis were investigated. Intake of additional 1% methionine or 3% lysine had marked preventive effects on atherogenesis in the cerebral and mesenteric arteries in SHRSP. Therefore, early dietary intake of sulphur amino acids delays the onset of hypertension and attenuates the development of both severe hypertension and atherosclerosis in SHRSP.