Empirically Derived Dietary Patterns and Hypertension

The association between dietary patterns and hypertension or systolic blood pressure/diastolic blood pressure was described in 27 papers identified between January 2008 and December 2011. The majority were cross-sectional studies (with only two cohort studies). Most of the empirically derived dietary pattern studies in the literature have used factor analysis methods based on dietary data from food frequency questionnaires. There are six studies using national representative samples. The majority of the studies did not assess intake of salt. The difference in salt intake by dietary patterns is not known. “Western,” “meat and alcohol,” and “processed meat” dietary patterns are positively associated either categorically with hypertension or continuously with blood pressure in most studies. While a “vegetable”-rich food pattern is inversely related to hypertension in Western countries, the traditional Asian vegetable-rich food pattern seems not to be protective against hypertension in Asian populations. Posterior dietary pattern approaches can provide useful information in developing dietary guidelines. Further research is needed in this field.