Association Between Nut Consumption And Hypertension In A General Adult Population

Objective:The aim of this cross-sectional study was to assess the association between nut consumption and hypertension in the general adult population,and to provide evidences for prevent and control the occurrence and development of hypertension in the diet.Method:The data of this study was derived from the Tianjin Chronic Low-Grade Systemic Inflammation and Health Cohort,which included 15,235 people,including 8,443 males and 6,792 females.All participants were provided written informed consent for analysis of their data,and the protocol used here was approved by the Institutional Review Board of Tianjin Medical University.The frequency of nut consumption was assessed using a validated semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire and hypertension was assessed using the standards from the “Guidelines for the prevention and treatment of hypertension in China,2010”.The frequency of nut consumption was divided into three categories: “<1 time/week”,“1-3 times/week”,and “?4 times/week”.Variance analysis(for continuous variables)and Logistic regression analysis(for categorical variables)were used to compare the differences in baseline characteristics between males and females with different frequency of nut consumption,with hypertension and non-hypertension and with different grades of BMI.Multiple logistic regressions stratified by gender and BMI were applied to assess the association between nut consumption and hypertension.Result:The prevalence of hypertension was 33.0% in the general population,and the prevalence of hypertension was 40.4% and 23.8% for men and women,respectively.In analysis of comparion of basic characteristics,the differences of age,body mass index,biochemical measurement,prevalence of several metabolic disease,smoking and drinking status,dietary patterns,etc.were statistical significant between males and females with different frequency of nut consumption,with hypertension and non-hypertension and with different grades of BMI(P for trend <0.05).In multiple logistic regression analysis,after adjustments for potential confounding factors,no statistically significant association was observed between the frequency of nut intake and hypertension in the male population.Compared with women in the "<1 time/week" group,the odds ratio(OR)(95% confidence interval,CI)of females with hypertension in the "?4 times/week" group was 0.78(0.64,0.96)(trend P=0.01).BMI was divided into four groups: thin,normal,overweight and obese.In the female population,statistically significant results only occurred in women who were thin and normal,compared with women in the "<1 time/week" group,the OR(95% CI)of women with hypertension in the "?4 times/week" group was 0.20(0.04,0.88)(trend P=0.04)? 0.72(0.53,0.97)(trend P=0.03).Conclusion:After adjustments for potential confounding factors,there was a negative correlation between daily high-frequency(?4 times/week)nut consumption and hypertension in females,but not in males.Further cohort studies should be conducted to confirm the causal association between nut consumption and hypertension.