title: Seaweed intake and blood pressure levels in healthy pre-school Japanese children.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Few studies have examined whether dietary factors might affect blood pressure in children. We purposed to investigate whether seaweed intake is associated with blood pressure level among Japanese preschool children.
  
  
  METHODS
  The design of the study was cross-sectional and it was conducted in autumn 2006. Subjects were healthy preschoolers aged 3-6 years in Aichi, Japan. Blood pressure and pulse were measured once by an automated sphygmomanometer, which uses oscillometric methods. Dietary data, including seaweed intake, were assessed using 3-day dietary records covering 2 consecutive weekdays and 1 weekend day. Of a total of 533 children, 459 (86.1 percent) agreed to be enrolled in our study. Finally, blood pressure measurement, complete dietary records and parent-reported height and weight were obtained for 223 boys and 194 girls.
  
  
  RESULTS
  When we examined Spearman's correlation coefficients, seaweed intake was significantly negatively related to systolic blood pressure in girls (P = 0.008). In the one-way analysis of covariance for blood pressure and pulse after adjustments for age and BMI, the boys with the lowest, middle and highest tertiles of seaweed intake had diastolic blood pressure readings of 62.8, 59.3 and 59.6 mmHg, respectively (P = 0.11, trend P = 0.038). Girls with higher seaweed intake had significantly lower systolic blood pressure readings (102.4, 99.2 and 96.9 mmHg for girls with the lowest, middle and highest tertiles of seaweed intake, respectively; P = 0.037, trend P = 0.030).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study showed that seaweed intake was negatively related to diastolic blood pressure in boys and to systolic blood pressure in girls. This suggests that seaweed might have beneficial effects on blood pressure among children.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Gifu University Graduate School of Medicine, 1-1 Yanagido, Gifu 501-1194, Japan. dr_keiko@gifu-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Keiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wada
authors.forename: Kozue
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.forename: Yuya
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tamai
authors.forename: Michiko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tsuji
authors.forename: Yukari
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sahashi
authors.forename: Kaori
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.forename: Sakiko
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ohtsuchi
authors.forename: Keiko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yamamoto
authors.forename: Kyoko
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ando
authors.forename: Chisato
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Nagata
mesh_terms: D044466:Asian People; D001794:Blood Pressure; D015992:Body Mass Index; D001835:Body Weight; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004032:Diet; D002149:Energy Intake; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000517:prevention & control; D007564:Japan; D008019:Life Style; D008297:Male; D012044:Regression Analysis; D012624:Seaweed; D014675:Vegetables