Fruit and Vegetables Consumption and Risk of Hypertension: A Meta-Analysis

The association between fruit and vegetables (FVs) consumption and hypertension risk remains controversial. Asystematic search was performed in PubMed and the Web of Science for relevant articles published in English or Chinese up to April 2015. A total of 25 studies with 334,468 patients (41,713 cases) were included in the present meta-analysis. When comparing the highest with the lowest consumption, the pooled relative risks of hypertension were 0.812 (95% confidence interval, 0.740-0.890) for FVs, 0.732 (95% confidence interval, 0.621-0.861) for fruit, and 0.970 (95% confidence interval, 0.918-1.024) for vegetables. A significantly inverse association between fruit consumption and hypertension risk was found in studies carried out in Asia (relative risk, 0.70; 95% confidence interval, 0.61-0.79). Influence analysis revealed that no individual study had an excessive influence on the pooled relative risks. The present meta-analysis indicates that FV consumption might be inversely associated with hypertension risk, which still needs to be confirmed by prospective cohort studies. (c) 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.