Hostname: page-component-76d6cb85b7-f97m6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-07-19T02:44:39.937Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Hypertension and blood pressure among meat eaters, fish eaters, vegetarians and vegans in EPIC–Oxford

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 December 2006

Paul N Appleby ,
Gwyneth K Davey  and
Timothy J Key
Paul N Appleby*
Affiliation:
Cancer Research UK, Epidemiology Unit, University of Oxford, Gibson Building, The Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford OX2 6HE, UK
Gwyneth K Davey
Affiliation:
Cancer Research UK, Epidemiology Unit, University of Oxford, Gibson Building, The Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford OX2 6HE, UK
Timothy J Key
Affiliation:
Cancer Research UK, Epidemiology Unit, University of Oxford, Gibson Building, The Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford OX2 6HE, UK
*
*Corresponding author: Email Paul.Appleby@cancer.org.uk
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the 'Save PDF' action button.
Objective:

To compare the prevalence of self-reported hypertension and mean systolic and diastolic blood pressures in four diet groups (meat eaters, fish eaters, vegetarians and vegans) and to investigate dietary and other lifestyle factors that might account for any differences observed between the groups.

Design:

Analysis of cross-sectional data from participants in the Oxford cohort of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC–Oxford).

Setting:

United Kingdom.

Subjects:

Eleven thousand and four British men and women aged 20–78 years at blood pressure measurement.

Results:

The age-adjusted prevalence of self-reported hypertension was significantly different between the four diet groups, ranging from 15.0% in male meat eaters to 5.8% in male vegans, and from 12.1% in female meat eaters to 7.7% in female vegans, with fish eaters and vegetarians having similar and intermediate prevalences. Mean systolic and diastolic blood pressures were significantly different between the four diet groups, with meat eaters having the highest values and vegans the lowest values. The differences in age-adjusted mean blood pressure between meat eaters and vegans among participants with no self-reported hypertension were 4.2 and 2.6 mmHg systolic and 2.8 and 1.7 mmHg diastolic for men and women, respectively. Much of the variation was attributable to differences in body mass index between the diet groups.

Conclusions:

Non-meat eaters, especially vegans, have a lower prevalence of hypertension and lower systolic and diastolic blood pressures than meat eaters, largely because of differences in body mass index.

Keywords

Systolic blood pressureDiastolic blood pressureHypertensionDietVegetarianVegan

Information

Type
Research Article
Information
Public Health Nutrition , Volume 5 , Issue 5 , December 2002 , pp. 645 - 654
Copyright
Copyright © CABI Publishing 2002

References

1Stamler, J, Stamler, R, Neaton, JD. Blood pressure, systolic and diastolic, and cardiovascular risks: US population data. Arch. Intern. Med. 1993;153:598–615.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
2van den Hoogen, PC, Feskens, EJ, Nagelkerke, NJ, et al. The relation between blood pressure and mortality due to coronary heart disease among men in different parts of the world. N. Engl. J. Med. 2000;342:1–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
3MacMahon, S, Peto, R, Cutler, J, et al. Blood pressure, stroke, and coronary heart disease. 1. Prolonged differences in blood pressure: prospective observational studies corrected for the regression dilution bias. Lancet 1990;335:765–74.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
4Elliott, P, Marmot, M, Dyer, A, et al. The INTERSALT study: main results, conclusions, and some implications. Clin. Exp. Hypertens. – Part A, Theory & Practice 1989;11(5–6):1025–34.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
5Elliott, P, Stamler, J, Nichols, R, et al. INTERSALT revisited: further analyses of 24-hour sodium excretion and blood pressure within and across populations. Br. Med. J. 1996;312:1249–53.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
6Sacks, FM, Stevkey, LP, Vollmer, WM, et al. Effects on blood pressure of reduced dietary sodium and the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet. N. Engl. J. Med. 2001;344:3–10.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
7Sacks, FM, Rosner, B, Kass, EH. Blood pressure in vegetarians. Am. J. Epidemiol. 1974;100:390–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
8Armstrong, B, Van Merwyk, AJ, Coates, H. Blood pressure in Seventh-Day Adventist vegetarians. Am. J. Epidemiol. 1977;105:444–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
9Armstrong, B, Clarke, H, Martin, C, et al. Urinary sodium and blood pressure in vegetarians. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 1979;32:2472x–6.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
10Rouse, IL, Armstrong, BK, Beilin, LJ. The relationship of blood pressure to diet and lifestyle in two religious populations. J. Hypertens. 1983; 1:65–71.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
11Holland, B, Brown, J, Buss, DH. Fish and Fish Products. Third Supplement to McCance and Widdowson's The Composition of Foods, 5th ed. Cambridge: Royal Society of Chemistry, 1993.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
12Holland, B, Unwin, ID, Buss, DH. Cereals and Cereal Products. Third Supplement to McCance and Widdowson's The Composition of Foods, 4th ed. Cambridge: Royal Society of Chemistry, 1988.Google Scholar
13Holland, B, Unwin, ID, Buss, DH. Milk Products and Eggs. Fourth Supplement to McCance and Widdowson's The Composition of Foods, 4th ed. Cambridge: Royal Society of Chemistry, 1989.Google Scholar
14Holland, B, Unwin, ID, Buss, DH. Vegetables, Herbs and Spices. Fifth Supplement to McCance and Widdowson's The Composition of Foods, 4th ed. Cambridge: Royal Society of Chemistry, 1991.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
15Holland, B, Unwin, ID, Buss, DH. Fruit and Nuts. First Supplement to McCance and Widdowson's The Composition of Foods, 5th ed. Cambridge: Royal Society of Chemistry, 1992.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
16Holland, B, Welch, AA, Buss, DH. Vegetable Dishes. Second Supplement to McCance and Widdowson's The Composition of Foods, 5th ed. Cambridge: Royal Society of Chemistry, 1992.Google Scholar
17Holland, B, Welch, AA, Unwin, ID, et al. McCance and Widdowson's The Composition of Foods, 5th ed. Cambridge: Royal Society of Chemistry, 1991.Google Scholar
18Chan, W, Brown, J, Buss, DH. Miscellaneous Foods. Fourth Supplement to McCance and Widdowson's The Composition of Foods, 5th ed. Cambridge: Royal Society of Chemistry, 1994.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
19Chan, W, Brown, J, Church, SM, et al. Meat Products and Dishes. Sixth Supplement to McCance and Widdowson's The Composition of Foods, 5th ed. Cambridge: Royal Society of Chemistry, 1996.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
20Chan, W, Brown, J, Lee, SM, et al. Meat, Poultry and Game. Fifth Supplement to McCance and Widdowson's The Composition of Foods, 5th ed. Cambridge: Royal Society of Chemistry, 1995.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
21Bingham, SA, Gill, C, Welch, A, et al. Validation of dietary assessment methods in the UK arm of EPIC using weighed records, and 24-hour urinary nitrogen and potassium and serum vitamin C and carotenoids as biomarkers. Int. J. Epidemiol. 1997;26(Suppl. 1):137S–51S.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
22Spencer, EA, Appleby, PN, Davey, GK, Key, TJ. Validity of self-reported height and weight in 4808 EPIC–Oxford participants. Public Health Nutr. 2002;5:561–5.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
23Stata Corporation. Stata Statistical Software: Release 7.0. College Station, TX: StataCorp, 2001.Google Scholar
24Day, N, McKeown, N, Wong, M, et al. Epidemiological assessment of diet: a comparison of a 7-day diary with a food frequency questionnaire using urinary markers of nitrogen, potassium and sodium. Int. J. Epidemiol. 2001;30:309–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
25Rouse, IL, Beilin, LJ, Armstrong, BK, et al. Blood pressure lowering effect of a vegetarian diet: a controlled trial in normotensive subjects. Lancet 1983;1:5–10.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
26Margetts, BM, Beilin, LJ, Vandongen, R, et al. Vegetarian diet in mild hypertension: a randomised controlled trial. Br. Med. J. 1986;293:1468–71.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
27Beilin, LJ, Burke, V. Vegetarian diet components, protein and blood pressure: which nutrients are important? Clin. Exp. Pharmacol. Physiol. 1995;22:195–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
28Pauletto, P, Puato, M, Caroli, MG, et al. Blood pressure and atherogenic lipoprotein profiles of fish-diet and vegetarian villagers in Tanzania: the Lugalawa study. Lancet 1996;348:784–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
29Mori, TA, Beilin, LJ. Long-chain omega 3 fatty acids, blood lipids and cardiovascular risk reduction. Curr. Opin. Lipidol. 2001;12:11–17.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
30McCarron, DA, Reusser, ME. Are low intakes of calcium and potassium important causes of cardiovascular disease? Am. J. Hypertens. 2001;14:206S–12S.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
31Silverberg, DS. Non-pharmacological treatment of hypertension.J. Hypertens. 1990;8:21S–6S.Google ScholarPubMed
32McDougall, J, Litzau, K, Haver, E, et al. Rapid reduction of serum cholesterol and blood pressure by a twelve-day, very low fat, strictly vegetarian diet. J. Am. Coll. Nutr. 1995;14:491–6.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
33Beilin, LJ. Vegetarian and other complex diets, fats, fiber, and hypertension. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 1994;59:1130S–5S.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
34Key, TJ, Fraser, GE, Thorogood, M, et al. Mortality in vegetarians and nonvegetarians: detailed findings from a collaborative analysis of 5 prospective studies. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 1999;70(Suppl.):516S–24S.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed