Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2014 Aug;8(4):453-62.
doi: 10.4162/nrp.2014.8.4.453. Epub 2014 Jul 17.

The relationship of dietary sodium, potassium, fruits, and vegetables intake with blood pressure among Korean adults aged 40 and older

Mi Kyung Kim  1 , Kirang Kim  2 , Min-Ho Shin  3 , Dong Hoon Shin  4 , Young-Hoon Lee  5 , Byung-Yeol Chun  6 , Bo Youl Choi  1
Affiliations

The relationship of dietary sodium, potassium, fruits, and vegetables intake with blood pressure among Korean adults aged 40 and older

Mi Kyung Kim et al. Nutr Res Pract. 2014 Aug.

Abstract

Background/objectives: The inverse relationships of combined fruits and vegetables intake with blood pressure have been reported. However, whether there are such relationships with salty vegetables has rarely been investigated in epidemiologic studies. We evaluated the relation of combined and separate intake of fruits, vegetable intakes, and salty vegetables, as well as sodium and potassium, with blood pressure among the middle-aged and elderly populations.

Subjects/methods: The present cross-sectional analysis of a prospective cohort baseline survey was performed with 6,283 subjects (2,443 men and 3,840 women) and free of hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer. Dietary data were collected by trained interviewers using food frequency questionnaire.

Results: The significantly inverse linear trend of diastolic blood pressure (DBP) was found in fruits and non-pickled vegetables (81.2 mmHg in the lowest quintile vs 79.0 mmHg in the highest quintile, P for trend = 0.0040) and fruits only (80.9 mmHg in the lowest quintile vs 79.4 mmHg in the highest quintile, P for trend = 0.0430) among men. In contrast, sodium and sodium to potassium ratio were positively related with blood pressure among men (DBP, 78.8 mmHg in the lowest quintile vs 80.6 mmHg in the highest quintile, P for trend = 0.0079 for sodium; DBP, 79.0 mmHg in the lowest quintile vs 80.7 mmHg in the highest quintile, P for trend = 0.0199 and SBP, 123.8 mmHg in the lowest quintile vs 125.9 mmHg in the highest quintile for sodium/potassium). Kimchies consumption was positively related to DBP for men (78.2 mmHg in the lowest quintile vs 80.9 mmHg in the highest quintile for DBP, P for trend = 0.0003). Among women, these relations were not found.

Conclusion: Fruits and/or non-pickled vegetables may be inversely, but sodium, sodium to potassium, and Kimchies may be positively related to blood pressure among men.

Keywords: Kimchies; Sodium; blood pressure; fruits and vegetables; potassium.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Kearney PM, Whelton M, Reynolds K, Muntner P, Whelton PK, He J. Global burden of hypertension: analysis of worldwide data. Lancet. 2005;365:217–223. - PubMed
    1. Most MM. Estimated phytochemical content of the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet is higher than in the control study diet. J Am Diet Assoc. 2004;104:1725–1727. - PubMed
    1. World Health Organization (CH) Diet, Nutrition and the Prevention of Chronic Diseases. Report of a Joint WHO/FAO Expert Consultation. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2003. Report No. 916.
    1. World Health Organization (CH) Review and Updating of Current WHO Recommendations on Salt/Sodium and Potassium Consumption. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2011.
    1. Adrogué HJ, Madias NE. Sodium and potassium in the pathogenesis of hypertension. N Engl J Med. 2007;356:1966–1978. - PubMed