Increased Protein Intake Is Associated With Uncontrolled Blood Pressure by 24-Hour Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes

Objective: To analyze possible associations of dietary components, especially protein intake, with blood pressure (BP) during ambulatory BP monitoring (ABPM) in patients with type 2 diabetes. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, BP of outpatients with type 2 diabetes was evaluated by 24-hour ABPM (Spacelabs 90207) and usual diet by 3-day weighed diet records. Patients were divided into 2 groups according to their daytime ABPM: uncontrolled BP (systolic BP >= 135mmHg or diastolic BP >= 85mmHg) and controlled BP (systolic BP < 135mmHg and diastolic BP < 85mmHg). Logistic regression models unadjusted and adjusted for possible confounders (covariates) were used to analyze the association of protein and uncontrolled BP. Results: A total of 121 patients with type 2 diabetes aged 62.3years, 54.5% of whom were women, were studied. The uncontrolled BP group had higher glycated hemoglobin (HbA1C) values (8.4 +/- 2.0vs 7.6 +/- 1.3%; p = 0.04) and consumed more protein (20.0 +/- 3.8vs 18.2 +/- 3.6% of energy; p = 0.01) and meat, (2.6 [1.45, 2.95] vs 2.0 [1.49, 2.90] g/kg weight; p = 0.04) than the controlled BP group. In a multivariate analysis, protein intake (% of energy) increased the chance for uncontrolled BP (odds ratio [OR] = 1.16; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.02, 1.30; p = 0.02), adjusted for body mass index (BMI), HbA1C, low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, number of antihypertensive medications, and ethnicity. Meat consumption higher than 3.08g/kg weight/day more than doubled the chance for uncontrolled BP (OR = 2.53; 95% CI, 1.01, 7.60; p = 0.03). Conclusion: High protein intake and meat consumption were associated with high daytime ABPM values in patients with type 2 diabetes. Reducing meat intake might represent an additional dietary intervention in hypertensive patients with type 2 diabetes.