Meat intake and the risk of hypertension in middle-aged and older women.

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One more from the new issue of Journal of Hypertension I thought was

interesting:

Meat intake and the risk of hypertension in middle-aged and older women.

Original papers

Journal of Hypertension. 26(2):215-222, February 2008.

Wang, Lu a; Manson, JoAnn E a,b; Buring, E a,b,c; Sesso,

D a,c

Abstract:

Background: Although previous studies have suggested that high intake

of meat, particularly red meat, may contribute to the development of

hypertension, data on the prospective associations between meat intake

and risk of hypertension are still limited.

Objective: We investigated the association of total red meat, types of

red meat and poultry intake at baseline with the incidence of

hypertension in a prospective cohort of 28 766 female US health

professionals aged >= 45 years.

Patients and methods: Baseline red meat and poultry intake were

assessed from semiquantitative food frequency questionnaires. Incident

cases of hypertension (n = 8693) were identified from annual follow-up

questionnaires during 10 years of follow-up.

Results: After adjusting for known hypertension risk factors, the

relative risk and 95% confidence interval (CI) of incident

hypertension were 1.00 (reference), 1.05 (0.97-1.13), 1.05

(0.97-1.13), 1.05 (0.97-1.14) and 1.13 (1.04-1.23), respectively,

across increasing quintiles of baseline total red meat intake (P for

trend = 0.008). Using functional cutpoints, women who consumed > 0 to

< 0.5, 0.5 to < 1.0, 1.0 to < 1.5 and >= 1.5 servings/day of total red

meat had multivariable relative risks (95% CI) of hypertension of 1.24

(1.08-1.43), 1.25 (1.08-1.44), 1.32 (1.13-1.53) and 1.35 (1.14-1.59)

compared to those who consumed no red meat (P for trend = 0.008). By

contrast, multivariable relative risks of incident hypertension across

increasing quintiles of poultry intake were 1.00, 1.03, 1.03, 1.08 and

1.03 (P for trend = 0.37).

Conclusions: Red meat intake was positively associated, whereas

poultry intake was unassociated, with the risk of hypertension in

middle-aged and older women.

© 2008 Lippincott & Wilkins, Inc.