Treatment of hypertension in obese patients: efficacy and feasibility of weight and salt reduction programs

Abstract

The effect of three different nutrition counselling programs on well established hypertension was studied in 64 obese patients regularly attending a hypertension clinic. The 12-month program of weekly-monthly group sessions focused on weight reduction (W group, n = 24), salt restriction (S group, n = 17) or both (WS group, n = 23). The mean (+/-SEM) weight decreased by 6.9 +/- 0.7 kg in the W group (p less than 0.001) and by 5.0 +/- 0.6 kg (p less than 0.001) in the WS group during the first three months of the study and levelled off thereafter. The weight changes in the S group were small during the trial. The mean 24-hour urinary sodium excretion in the WS and S groups was reduced by about 35 and 50 mmol, respectively, during the first months of the study, and fell thereafter somewhat in the S group but not in the WS group. Sodium excretion remained unchanged in the W group. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure (BP) fell significantly in the W and WS groups during the first months of the study. BP remained thereafter stable in most patients but declined further in one fifth of them. BP changed little during the trial in the S group. By 12 months, BP control was improved in 67, 61 and 12% of the patients in the W, WS and S groups, respectively. Improved BP control was strongly related to weight loss but not to reduced sodium excretion. Weight reduction programs with even modest success help most obese patients with established hypertension, whereas moderate salt intake restriction gives little added benefit.