Dietary factors as determinants of hypertension: a case control study in an urban Indian population

Hypertension, an important risk factor for coronary heart disease (CHD), is often associated with certain dietary habits which can either adversely affect or decrease blood pressure. Several Western studies have documented the role of diet, especially excess energy, both quality and quantity of fat and salt, in the aetiopathogenesis of chronic diseases such as hypertension, diabetes and CHD. Indians are particularly susceptible to these chronic diseases. A study was therefore undertaken to investigate the role of dietary factors in relation to hypertension. A total of 158 newly diagnosed cases were selected from the out-patient department of the 1000-bed Osmania General Hospital along with 172 age and gender-matched controls. A detailed diet history was collected and validated. An energy adjustment method was adopted by transforming the data on a log scale as all the nutrients depended upon the intake of energy. A total of 86 hypertensives and 79 controls participated in the study. Among those classified as hypertensives, men reported higher intakes of dietary fat and salt while women reported higher intakes of dietary protein and salt. Risk calculated by Odds ratio revealed that higher intakes of fat, protein and salt increase the risk for hypertension. Multivariate stepwise logistic regression identified salt as the risk factor in men and protein as the risk factor in women. These results suggest a role for dietary fat, protein and salt in hypertension