High weekly consumption of whole wheat servings confers lowest risk of hypertension
WEDNESDAY, March 23 (HealthDay News) -- Eating breakfast cereals, especially whole grain cereals, is associated with a lower risk of hypertension (HTN), according to a study presented at the American Heart Association's Nutrition, Physical Activity, and Metabolism/Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention 2011 Scientific Sessions, held from March 22 to 25 in Atlanta.
Jinesh Kochar, M.D., from the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, and colleagues studied the association between breakfast cereal intake and the risk of incident HTN in 13,368 male participants from the Physicians' Health Study I. During an average follow-up of 16.8 years, participants' (average age, 52.4 years) self-reported cereal intake and HTN were assessed annually through follow-up questionnaires.
The investigators identified 7,267 new cases of HTN. The crude incidence rates of HTN for no breakfast cereal per week, up to one, two to six, or more than seven servings per week, were 35.4, 32.9, 30.7, and 28.7 cases per 1,000 person-years, respectively. From the lowest to the highest category of cereal intake, the adjusted relative risks (RRs) for HTN were 1.0 (reference), 0.93, 0.89, and 0.81, respectively. From the lowest to the highest category of cereal intake, whole grain consumption showed stronger inverse association with HTN (RRs, 1.0 [reference], 0.89, 0.87, 0.80, respectively) compared to refined grain cereals (RRs, 1.0 [reference], 0.91, 0.86, 0.87, respectively).
"These results suggest that intake of breakfast cereals (especially whole grain variety) may confer a lower risk of HTN," the authors write.
Abstract No. P036
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