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Close adherence to the Japanese diet is not associated with a high prevalence of hypertension: the Japan Epidemiology Collaboration on Occupational Health Study

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 April 2025

Haruka Miyake Open the ORCID record for Haruka Miyake [Opens in a new window] ,
Akiko Nanri Open the ORCID record for Akiko Nanri [Opens in a new window] ,
Hiroko Okazaki ,
Toshiaki Miyamoto ,
Takeshi Kochi ,
Isamu Kabe ,
Aki Tomizawa ,
Shohei Yamamoto ,
Maki Konishi  and
Yosuke Inoue
...Show all authors
Haruka Miyake*
Affiliation:
Department of Epidemiology and Prevention, Center for Clinical Sciences, National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Tokyo, Japan
Akiko Nanri
Affiliation:
Department of Epidemiology and Prevention, Center for Clinical Sciences, National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Tokyo, Japan Department of Food and Health Sciences, International College of Arts and Sciences, Fukuoka Women’s University, Fukuoka, Japan
Hiroko Okazaki
Affiliation:
Mitsui Chemicals, Inc., Tokyo, Japan
Toshiaki Miyamoto
Affiliation:
Nippon Steel Corporation, East Nippon Works Kimitsu Area, Chiba, Japan
Takeshi Kochi
Affiliation:
Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd., Tokyo, Japan
Isamu Kabe
Affiliation:
KUBOTA Corporation Co., Ltd., Ibaraki, Japan
Aki Tomizawa
Affiliation:
Health Design Inc., Tokyo, Japan
Shohei Yamamoto
Affiliation:
Department of Epidemiology and Prevention, Center for Clinical Sciences, National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Tokyo, Japan
Maki Konishi
Affiliation:
Department of Epidemiology and Prevention, Center for Clinical Sciences, National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Tokyo, Japan
Yosuke Inoue
Affiliation:
Department of Epidemiology and Prevention, Center for Clinical Sciences, National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Tokyo, Japan
Seitaro Dohi
Affiliation:
Mitsui Chemicals, Inc., Tokyo, Japan
Tetsuya Mizoue
Affiliation:
Department of Epidemiology and Prevention, Center for Clinical Sciences, National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Tokyo, Japan
*
Corresponding author: Haruka Miyake; Email: miyake.h@jihs.go.jp
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Abstract

While the traditional Japanese diet has been suggested to increase blood pressure due to its high Na content, whether the contemporary Japanese diet is associated with blood pressure remains elusive. We developed a traditional Japanese diet score (nine items: white rice, miso soup, soy products, vegetables, mushrooms, seaweeds, fish, salty food and green tea) and a modified version by substituting white rice with whole-grain rice, reverse scoring for salty food and adding fruits, raw vegetables and dairy products using data from 12 213 employees from Japanese companies. Hypertension was defined as a blood pressure of 140/90 mmHg or more or the use of antihypertensive drugs. A multi-level Poisson regression model with a robust variance estimator was used to calculate prevalence ratios (PR) and 95 % CI while adjusting for covariates. The adjusted PR (95 % CI) of hypertension for the lowest through highest quartiles of the traditional Japanese diet score were 1·00 (reference), 0·94 (0·88, 1·02), 0·98 (0·90, 1·06) and 0·96 (0·90, 1·02), respectively (P for trend = 0·29), while those for the modified Japanese diet score were 1·00 (reference), 0·96 (0·94, 0·99), 0·95 (0·85, 1·05) and 0·94 (0·87, 1·01), respectively (P for trend = 0·10). In this cross-sectional study, close adherence to the traditional Japanese diet was not associated with the prevalence of hypertension, whereas there was a suggestion of an inverse association between the modified Japanese diet and the prevalence of hypertension.

Keywords

Dietary patternContemporary Japanese dietDietary scoreHypertensionWorker
Type
Research Article
Information
British Journal of Nutrition , First View , pp. 1 - 8
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2025. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of The Nutrition Society

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