title: Gazpacho consumption is associated with lower blood pressure and reduced hypertension in a high cardiovascular risk cohort. Cross-sectional study of the PREDIMED trial.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Hypertension is a major public health problem and a leading cause of death and disability in both developed and developing countries, affecting one-quarter of the world's adult population. Our aim was to evaluate whether the consumption of gazpacho, a Mediterranean vegetable-based cold soup rich in phytochemicals, is associated with lower blood pressure (BP) and/or reduced prevalence of hypertension in individuals at high cardiovascular risk.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We selected 3995 individuals (58% women, mean age 67 y) at high cardiovascular risk (81% hypertensive) recruited into the PREDIMED study. BP, weight, and dietary and physical activity data were collected. In multivariate linear regression analyses, after adjustment, moderate and high gazpacho consumption categories were associated with reduced mean systolic BP of -1.9 mm Hg [95% confidence interval (CI): -3.4; -0.6] and -2.6 mm Hg (CI: -4.2; -1.0), respectively, and reduced diastolic BP of -1.5 mm Hg (CI: -2.3; -0.6) and -1.9 mm Hg (CI: -2.8; -1.1). By multiple-adjusted logistic regression analysis, gazpacho consumption was associated with a lower prevalence of hypertension, with OR = 0.85 (CI: 0.73; 0.99) for each 250 g/week increase and OR = 0.73 (CI: 0.55; 0.98) for high gazpacho consumption groups compared to the no-consumption group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Gazpacho consumption was inversely associated with systolic and diastolic BP and prevalence of hypertension in a cross-sectional Mediterranean population at high cardiovascular risk. The association between gazpacho intake and reduction of BP is probably due to synergy among several bioactive compounds present in the vegetable ingredients used to make the recipe.
authors.affiliation: Nutrition and Food Science Department, XaRTA, INSA. Pharmacy School, University of Barcelona, Spain; CIBER:CB06/03 Fisiopatología de la Obesidad y la Nutrición, CIBERobn, Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII), Spain; RETICS RD06/0045, ISCIII, Spain.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Medina-Remón
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vallverdú-Queralt
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Arranz
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ros
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Martínez-González
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sacanella
authors.forename: M I
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Covas
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Corella
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Salas-Salvadó
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Gómez-Gracia
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Ruiz-Gutiérrez
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lapetra
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: García-Valdueza
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Arós
authors.forename: G T
authors.initials: GT
authors.lastname: Saez
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Serra-Majem
authors.forename: X
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Pinto
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Vinyoles
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Estruch
authors.forename: R M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Lamuela-Raventos
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging; D001794:Blood Pressure; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D003296:Cooking; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D038441:Diet, Mediterranean; D005260:Female; D005638:Fruit / Q000737:chemistry; D055951:Functional Food / Q000032:analysis; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000178:diet therapy / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D018551:Solanum lycopersicum / Q000737:chemistry; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D064209:Phytochemicals / Q000627:therapeutic use; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D013030:Spain / Q000453:epidemiology; D014675:Vegetables / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D064209:Phytochemicals