The association of eating behaviors with blood pressure levels in college students: a cross-sectional study

Effect of recommendations of breakfast and late-evening snack habits on body composition and blood pressure: A pilot randomized trial

Breakfast skipping and late-evening snack are prevalent in young adults. This randomized controlled intervention aimed to evaluate the influence of meal habit recommendations on young adults' body composition and blood pressure. Nonpregnant adults (≥20 y old) who were eligible for bioelectrical impedance analysis examination (neither pacemaker installed nor medications that would affect body composition, like diuretics or corticosteroids) were enrolled after they provided informed consent (n = 125). Subjects were randomized into three groups, every group receiving one of the following recommendations: (a) daily breakfast consumption (within 2 h after waking up), (b) avoidance of late-evening snacks (after 21:00h or within 4 h before sleep, with the exception of water), and (c) both recommendations. Body composition and blood pressure were measured before randomization at baseline and at the follow-up 1 y later. Intent-to-treat analysis showed that the recommendation of daily breakfast may contribute to a lower increment of diastolic blood pressure by 3.23 mmHg (95% CI: 0.17-6.28). Receiving the breakfast recommendation was associated with more reduction of total body fat percent by 2.99% (95% CI: 0.23-5.74) and percent trunk fat by 3.63% (95% CI: 0.40-6.86) in inactive youths. Recommendation of avoiding late-evening snack did not significantly affect the outcome measures (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03828812).

Higher serum ferritins are associated with higher blood pressure: A cross-sectional study

The aim of the study was to investigate the association between serum ferritin and hypertension among American adults from National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999 to 2018. A total of 16,125 participants were included. Weighted logistic regression and subgroup analyses were performed to explore the association. We found that serum ferritin was closely correlated to hypertension. Individuals with high serum ferritin were more likely to have higher systolic or diastolic blood pressure (SBP, DBP) than those with lower serum ferritin. Restricted cubic spline showed a significant non-linear association between serum ferritin and SBP/DBP. Higher level of serum ferritin (Q3 74.1-147 μg/L and Q4 > 147 μg/L) was found to have positive association with high SBP [Q3 (OR: 1.246, 95% CI:1.020-1.523), Q4 (OR: 1.354, 95% CI:1.096-1.674)], and hypertension [Q3 (OR: 1.283, 95% CI:1.099-1.499), Q4 (OR: 1.424, 95% CI:1.197-1.63)] in the whole population. In people aged between 20 and 60, subjects with high serum ferritin were significantly associated with a higher risk of hypertension, but in those over 60, the relationship between serum ferritin level and hypertension is negative. A non-linear association between serum ferritin and SBP, as well as DBP, was discovered. There was age difference in association between serum ferritin and hypertension in American adults, and further researches were needed to understand the mechanisms behind the difference.

A decision tree model of hypertension among college students in Yunnan Province, China

PURPOSE

Previous studies have indicated that the prevalence rate of hypertension in adolescents is high, but it has not received much attention and the influencing factors are unclear, especially in Yunnan Province, China.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A cluster sampling method was used to investigate 4781 freshmen in a college in Kunming, Yunnan Province from November to December. Demographic and lifestyle data were collected using questionnaires, and height, weight and blood pressure were measured. Decision tree model of hypertension in college students was established by Chi-square automatic interactive detection method.

RESULTS

Prevalence of prehypertension of systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) were detected in 33.9% and 32.1%, respectively. Prevalence of hypertension of SBP and DBP was detected in 1.2% and 7.2%, respectively. The hypertension and prehypertension decision tree of SBP has gender (χ2 = 728.64, p < .001) at the first level and body mass index (BMI) (boys: χ2 = 55.98, p < .001; girls: χ2 = 79.58, p < .001) at the second level. The hypertension and prehypertension decision tree of DBP has gender (χ2 = 381.83, p < .001) at the first level, BMI (boys: χ2 = 40.54, p < .001; girls: χ2 = 48.79, p < .001) at the second level, only children (χ2 = 6.43, p = .04) and red wine consumption (χ2 = 8.17, p = .017) at the third level.

CONCLUSIONS

The present study suggests that gender, BMI, only children and red wine consumption were the main factors affecting hypertension in college students in southwest border areas of China.

Effects of spicy food consumption on overweight/obesity, hypertension and blood lipids in China: a meta-analysis of cross-sectional studies

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Effect of spicy food consumption on health has attracted widespread attention in recent years. However, the relationships between spicy food intake and overweight/obesity, hypertension and blood lipid levels remain unclear. A meta-analysis of available observational studies was conducted in order to explore the associations.

METHODS

PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library and Web of science databases were searched for studies published up to 10 August 2021 without language limitation. The fixed and random effects models were selected to aggregate the effect sizes and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) in this study.

RESULTS

A total of nine observational studies involving 189,817 participants were included. Results from this meta-analysis showed that the highest category of spicy food intake significantly increased the risk of overweight/obesity (pooled Odds Ratio (OR): 1.17; 95% CI: 1.07, 1.28; P < 0.001), compared with the lowest category of spicy food intake. Conversely, a remarkable negative association was observed between the highest category of spicy food intake and hypertension (pooled OR: 0.87; 95% CI: 0.81, 0.93; P = 0.307). In addition, the highest category of spicy food intake increased the level of low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) (weighted mean difference (WMD): 0.21; 95% CI: 0.02, 0.39; P = 0.040), and reduced high density lipoprotein cholesterol level (HDL-C) (WMD: -0.06; 95% CI: -0.10, -0.02; P = 0.268) concentrations, but it was not related to total cholesterol (TC) (WMD: 0.09; 95% CI: -0.08, 0.26; P = 0.071) and triglyceride (TG) (WMD: -0.08; 95% CI: -0.19, 0.02; P = 0.333)] levels.

CONCLUSION

Spicy food intake may have a beneficial effect on hypertension, but adversely affect overweight/obesity, as well as blood lipid levels. However, the results should be interpreted cautiously because the present analyses were based on only observational studies and not intervention studies. More large and high-quality studies in different populations will be needed to verify these associations in the future.

Dietary Risk Factors and Eating Behaviors in Peripheral Arterial Disease (PAD)

Dietary risk factors play a fundamental role in the prevention and progression of atherosclerosis and PAD (Peripheral Arterial Disease). The impact of nutrition, however, defined as the process of taking in food and using it for growth, metabolism and repair, remains undefined with regard to PAD. This article describes the interplay between nutrition and the development/progression of PAD. We reviewed 688 articles, including key articles, narrative and systematic reviews, meta-analyses and clinical studies. We analyzed the interaction between nutrition and PAD predictors, and subsequently created four descriptive tables to summarize the relationship between PAD, dietary risk factors and outcomes. We comprehensively reviewed the role of well-studied diets (Mediterranean, vegetarian/vegan, low-carbohydrate ketogenic and intermittent fasting diet) and prevalent eating behaviors (emotional and binge eating, night eating and sleeping disorders, anorexia, bulimia, skipping meals, home cooking and fast/ultra-processed food consumption) on the traditional risk factors of PAD. Moreover, we analyzed the interplay between PAD and nutritional status, nutrients, dietary patterns and eating habits. Dietary patterns and eating disorders affect the development and progression of PAD, as well as its disabling complications including major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) and major adverse limb events (MALE). Nutrition and dietary risk factor modification are important targets to reduce the risk of PAD as well as the subsequent development of MACE and MALE.

Dietary Patterns in Association With Hypertension: A Community-Based Study in Eastern China

Objective

This study aimed to explore the association between dietary patterns and hypertension based on a community–based survey in Suzhou, Eastern China.

Methods

This cross–sectional analysis was undertaken from the subset of the Suzhou Food Consumption and Health State Survey in 2018–2019. Adults aged ≥ 18 years were invited to participate in this survey. Dietary intake was collected by a 24–h dietary recall and a weighing method over three consecutive days (including two weekdays and one weekend day). Dietary patterns were defined using factor analysis. Association between the dietary patterns and hypertension was examined by multivariable logistic regression models with adjustment for covariates. Moreover, sensitivity analysis was used to reinforce our findings.

Results

A total of 2,718 participants were included in the final analysis. Rice-vegetable pattern, fast food pattern, fruit-dairy pattern, and wheat-meat pattern were identified. We observed that the fruit-dairy pattern was inversely associated with hypertension after adjustment for all the covariates (OR = 0.55; 95% CI: 0.40, 0.75; P = 0.002). The association between the wheat-meat pattern and hypertension was attenuated and became statistically nonsignificant in sensitivity analyses. The other two patterns were not significantly associated with hypertension (P &gt; 0.05).

Conclusion

The fruit-dairy pattern was inversely associated with the risk of hypertension among Chinese adults. Our findings further emphasize the important role of optimal diet combination in the prevention of hypertension.