Association of dietary caloric intake with blood pressure, serum lipids and anthropometric indices in patients with hypertension

The influence of dietary caloric intake was studied on blood pressure (BP), serum lipids, body mass index (BMI) and waist-hip-ratio (WHR) according to age and gender. The study population consisted of 400 healthy individuals as controls and 746 first time detected untreated hypertensive (HTN) subjects. The subjects were regrouped according to amount of calorie intake per day i.e. high and low calorie intake diet within two age-groups: 30-50 years and 51-80 yrs. Blood samples were drawn from all the subjects, following an overnight fast and serum total cholesterol (TC), triglycerides (TG) and HDL-C were measured by standard methods. Serum LDL-C was calculated by Fredrickson-Friedwald formula. BP and anthropometric measurements were measured by a standardized protocol. Highly significant increases in TC, TG, LDL-C, anthropometric and atherogenic indices were seen. While a decrease in HDL-C was observed in high calorie HTN, as compared to low calorie controls. Gender-wise, men had increased values compared to women, except, HDL-C and BMI. With increase in age, all parameters increased in both the subject categories, except atherogenic and anthropometric indices. Hypertensive subjects with high calorie intake diet showed an increase in BP, serum lipids and BMI which might be the major contributor in precipitation of hypertension and also in increasing risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.