Diet plays an important role in high blood pressure and following a Mediterranean diet can effectively prevent high blood pressure. Anyone who consistently follows a Mediterranean diet in the long term will significantly reduce their personal risk of high blood pressure.
A new study involving experts from Harokopio University of Athens in Greece has examined the long-term relationship between adherence to the Mediterranean diet and the occurrence of high blood pressure. The results were published in the scientific journal “Nature”.
Long-term study of potential connections
A total of 1,415 adults who did not have high blood pressure at the start of the study took part in the new research. Anthropometric, lifestyle and clinical parameters were examined at baseline. The participants were medically monitored over a period of twenty years.
At the start of the study and again after ten years, experts assessed adherence to the Mediterranean diet using the so-called MedDietScore, with higher values indicating better adherence to the Mediterranean diet.
Mediterranean diet protects against high blood pressure
During twenty years of medical follow-up, 314 cases of hypertension occurred, and greater adherence to the Mediterranean diet was found to be associated with a lower risk of hypertension, the team reports.
The incidence of high blood pressure was 35.5 percent among participants in the lowest tertile of the MedDietScore, while participants in the middle tertile of the MedDietScore had a risk of 22.5 percent and those in the highest tertile had a risk of 8.7 percent, according to the researchers further.
In general, according to the experts, every one point increase in the MedDietScore reduced the risk of high blood pressure by seven percent over a period of 20 years. This effect remained significant even after adjustment for various confounding factors (e.g. physical activity, smoking, and diabetes mellitus).
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A model also showed that participants who were in the middle and upper MedDietScore tertile both at the start of the study and after a period of ten years had a 47 percent lower 20-year risk of high blood pressure than participants who were in the middle and upper MedDietScore tertile consistently belonged to the lowest MedDietScore tertile over the same period, the team adds.
Long-term Mediterranean diet particularly beneficial
In summary, high adherence to the Mediterranean diet, especially when maintained over a longer period of time, is associated with a significantly lower incidence of high blood pressure. (as)
