Quality of plant-based diets and risk of hypertension: a Korean genome and examination study.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Plant-based diets have been suggested to have beneficial effects on various health outcomes. However, the evidence on the association of plant-based diet quality with health outcomes is very limited in Asian populations, who may have a different dietary pattern than western populations. This study explored the prospective association between different types of plant-based diets and risk of hypertension using recently established indices in South Koreans.

METHODS

Analyses were based on a community-based cohort of 5636 men and women (40-69 years of age at baseline, mean ± SD 50.6 ± 8.5 years) living in Ansan and Ansung, South Korea (2001-2016) without hypertension and related chronic diseases at baseline. Registration card and telephone registration number were used for the sampling. Dietary intakes were assessed using a validated food frequency questionnaire. Based on the questionnaire, scores of three plant-based diet indices [overall plant-based diet index (PDI), healthful plant-based diet index (hPDI), and unhealthful plant-based diet index (uPDI)] were calculated.

RESULTS

Over a follow-up of 14 years, 2244 participants developed hypertension. Individuals in the highest vs. lowest quintile of hPDI had 35% lower incidence of hypertension [hazard ratio (HR) 0.65, 95% CI 0.57, 0.75] and uPDI had 44% higher incidence of hypertension (HR 1.44, 95% CI 1.24, 1.67), adjusting for demographic characteristics, and lifestyle factors (P trend ≤ 0.0001 for both indices). A similar inverse association of hPDI was observed with risk of hypertension by age, sex, residence area, and obesity. The PDI was not associated with hypertension.

CONCLUSIONS

Our results highlight the importance of considering the quality of plant foods (relatively higher healthy plant foods and relatively lower less healthy plant foods consumption) for the prevention of hypertension in a population with a long-term adherence to predominantly plant-based diets.