title: Fruit and vegetable consumption and the risk of hypertension determined by self measurement of blood pressure at home: the Ohasama study.
abstract: It is well recognized that high fruit and vegetable consumption is associated with a reduction of blood pressure (BP) measured by conventional BP measurement in Western countries; however, there is little evidence about these associations in other regions and there have been no reports on these associations using self-measured BP at home (home BP). The objective of this work was to investigate the associations of fruit and vegetable consumption and their related micronutrients with the reduction of hypertension risk by using home BP in Japanese residents. Data were obtained from 1,569 residents aged 35 and over who measured their home BP in a general population of Ohasama, Japan. Dietary intake was measured using a 141-item food-frequency questionnaire (FFQ) and then subjects were divided into tertiles according to fruit, vegetable, potassium, vitamin C, and beta-carotene consumption. Hypertension was defined as home systolic/ diastolic BP > or = 135/85 mmHg and/or the use of antihypertensive medication. The prevalence of home hypertension was 39.4% for men and 29.3% for women. After adjustment for all potential confounding factors, the highest-tertile consumptions of fruits, vegetables, potassium, and vitamin C were associated with a significantly lower risk of hypertension (45%, 38%, 46%, and 43% lower risk of home hypertension, respectively). In conclusion, this cross-sectional study based on home BP measurement suggests that high-level consumptions of fruits, vegetables, potassium, and vitamin C are associated with a significantly lower risk of hypertension.
authors.affiliation: Scientific Evaluation of Dietary Reference Intakes' Project, Nutritional Epidemiology Program, National Institute of Health and Nutrition, Toyama 1-23-1, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-8636, Japan. mutsugky@nih.go.jp
authors.forename: Megumi T
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Utsugi
authors.forename: Takayoshi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ohkubo
authors.forename: Masahiro
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kikuya
authors.forename: Ayumi
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kurimoto
authors.forename: Rie I
authors.initials: RI
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.forename: Kazuhiro
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Hirohito
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Metoki
authors.forename: Azusa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hara
authors.forename: Yoshitaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tsubono
authors.forename: Yutaka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Imai
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001795:Blood Pressure Determination; D015992:Body Mass Index; D005260:Female; D005638:Fruit; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000517:prevention & control*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012306:Risk; D014675:Vegetables