Eric Hopton for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
A quick dash to the local burger joint or a slap-up splurge at a swanky restaurant will cause pain to your pay check and your blood pressure. New research suggests that eating out increases the risk of hypertension or pre-hypertension. (BP readings with a systolic pressure from 120 to 139 mm Hg or a diastolic pressure from 80 to 89 mm Hg are considered prehypertension. Readings greater than or equal to 140/90 mm Hg are considered hypertension).
The study of university students by scientists from the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School Singapore (Duke-NUS) is the first ever to show such a link between meals eaten away from home and high blood pressure. Previous studies show that eating out is associated with higher calorie, saturated fat, and salt intake. This is a perfect pathway to high blood pressure.
Globally, high blood pressure is the leading risk factor for death associated with cardiovascular disease. Even young adults with slightly elevated blood pressure have a greater risk of developing hypertension.
Duke-NUS Professor Tazeen Jafar designed and supervised the study to find behaviors associated with hypertension in a young adult population in Southeast Asia. Her team, including Duke-NUS medical student Dominique Seow, surveyed 501 university-going young adults aged 18 to 40 years in Singapore. Data on blood pressure, body mass index and lifestyle, including meals eaten away from home and physical activity levels, were collected.
Analysis of the data found pre-hypertension in 27.4% of the total population, while 38% ate more than 12 meals away from home per week. Pre-hypertension was more common in men (49%) than in women (9%). Those who had pre-hypertension or hypertension were more likely to eat more meals away from home per week, have a higher mean body mass index, have lower mean physical activity levels, and be current smokers.
Just once is too often
Dr. Jafar’s team have demonstrated a clear link between pre-hypertension and hypertension with meals eaten away from home. They found that even eating one extra meal out raised the odds of prehypertension by 6%.
“While there have been studies conducted in the United States and Japan to find behaviors associated with hypertension, very few have surveyed a Southeast Asian population,” said Dr. Jafar. “Our research plugs that gap and highlights lifestyle factors associated with pre-hypertension and hypertension that are potentially modifiable, and would be applicable to young adults globally, especially those of Asian descent.”
The team hope the findings can be used to modify behavior through changes in clinical and policy recommendations. Clinicians can intervene to advise young adults to modify their lifestyle behaviors while food policy changes can be made to regulate salt and fat in eateries. Clinicians can also advise younger male patients that they are at higher risk for pre-hypertension in order to make them more aware of their predisposition to the condition.
This study was published in the American Journal of Hypertension and was supported by the Duke-NUS Signature Research Programme, with funding from the Singapore Ministry of Health.
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