Association between Fruit and Vegetable Consumption and Risk of Hypertension in Middle-Aged and Older Korean Adults.

BACKGROUND: High fruit and vegetable (F/V) intake may be beneficial for hypertension prevention. However, a prospective association has not been investigated in a Korean population, and differences exist between typical diets in Korea and those of Western populations.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this prospective study was to investigate the association between F/V intake and risk of incident hypertension in middle-aged and older Korean adults using the data from the Korean Genome and Epidemiology Study (KoGES).

DESIGN: The KoGES is a large community-based cohort study of Korean adults aged 40 to 69 years, which began in May 2001. Questionnaires on demographic information and lifestyle factors were completed at baseline. Anthropometrics and biochemical measurements were conducted biennially. Fruit and vegetable consumption was assessed with a semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire. Hypertension was defined as a systolic blood pressure≥140 mm Hg or diastolic blood pressure ≥90 mm Hg.

PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING: A total of 4,257 participants (2,085 men, 2,172 women) without hypertension at baseline were evaluated.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcome was incident hypertension.

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS PERFORMED: Multivariate Cox proportional hazard models were used to examine hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% CIs for incident hypertension according to F/V consumption.

RESULTS: During the 8-year follow-up, 1,158 participants (606 men and 552 women) developed hypertension. Among men, frequent fruit consumers (≥4 servings/day) had a 56% lower risk of incident hypertension than did infrequent consumers (<1 serving/day) (HR=0.44, 95% CI=0.32 to 0.60, P for trend <0.0001). Among women, frequent fruit consumers had a 67% lower risk of incident hypertension than did infrequent consumers (HR=0.33, 95% CI=0.24 to 0.45, P for trend <0.0001), after adjustment for potential confounders. However, there was no association between vegetable consumption and risk of incident hypertension in either men or women.

CONCLUSION: A higher intake of fruit was prospectively associated with a lower risk of incident hypertension in middle-aged and older Korean adults, regardless of sex.