Relationship between dietary sodium, potassium, and calcium, anthropometric indexes, and blood pressure in young and middle aged Korean adults.

Epidemiological evidence of the effects of dietary sodium, calcium, and potassium, and anthropometric indexes on blood pressure is still inconsistent. To investigate the relationship between dietary factors or anthropometric indexes and hypertension risk, we examined the association of systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP and DBP) with sodium, calcium, and potassium intakes and anthropometric indexes in 1949-year-olds using data from Korean National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES) III. Total of 2,761 young and middle aged adults (574 aged 1929 years and 2,187 aged 3049 years) were selected from KNHANES III. General information, nutritional status, and anthropometric data were compared between two age groups (1929 years old and 3049 years old). The relevance of blood pressure and risk factors such as age, sex, body mass index (BMI), weight, waist circumference, and the intakes of sodium, potassium, and calcium was determined by multiple regression analysis. Multiple regression models showed that waist circumference, weight, and BMI were positively associated with SBP and DBP in both age groups. Sodium and potassium intakes were not associated with either SBP or DBP. Among 3049-year-olds, calcium was inversely associated with both SBP and DBP (P = 0.012 and 0.010, respectively). Our findings suggest that encouraging calcium consumption and weight control may play an important role in the primary prevention and management of hypertension in early adulthood.