Consumption of processed meat but not red meat is associated with the incidence of hypertension: ELSA-Brasil cohort.

OBJECTIVES

To verify the association between the consumption of red and processed meats and the incidence of hypertension in participants of the Longitudinal Study of Adult Health.

METHODS

This was a cohort with data from the baseline (2008-2010) and second wave (2012-2014) with 8,089 public workers of both sexes and different racial groups, with mean age of 49 ± 8 years (35-74 years old). Meat consumption (g/d) was estimated using a food frequency questionnaire and was divided into consumption tertiles. Hypertension was defined as systolic blood pressure ≥140 mm Hg and/or diastolic ≥90 mm Hg and/or antihypertensive medication. Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate adjusted Hazard Ration (HRs) and 95% confidence interval (CI) for incident hypertension.

RESULTS

A total of 1186 incident cases of hypertension were identified. Even adjusting for confounders, such as urinary Na/K (sodium/potassium) ratio and BMI (body mass index), participants in the second (HR:1.19; 95% CI 1.03-1.30) and third (HR:1.30; 95% CI:1.11-1.53) tertile of processed meat consumption had a higher risk of developing hypertension than those in the first tertile. We did not find a significant association between red meat consumption and hypertension.

CONCLUSIONS

The increased risk of developing hypertension is associated with moderate and high consumption of processed meats but not with consumption of red meat.