Pro-inflammation diet ups risk of hypertension

Reducing the consumption of foods that cause inflammation can help in the prevention and control of hypertension, suggest the results of a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Six studies met the eligibility criteria and included a total of 120,294 participants and 36,725 cases of hypertension. Compared with the lowest dietary inflammation index (DII), the highest DII score had a pooled relative risk (RR) of 1.15 (95 percent confidence interval [CI], 1.06‒1.26) for hypertension risk.

In addition, a higher DII score also correlated with a significantly higher hypertension risk (RR, 1.10, 95 percent CI, 1.03‒1.18) compared with a lower score.

In the dose-response meta-analysis, elevated DII scores were positively associated with hypertension risk. Each one-unit increase in the DII score led to a 4-percent increase in the incidence of hypertension (RR, 1.04, 95 percent CI, 1.00‒1.07).

“[A] pro-inflammation dietary [pattern] increases the risk of hypertension,” the investigators said.

This study was performed using the databases of PubMed, Web of Science, and Embase, which were searched for relevant studies until 9 January 2024.

After data extraction, the investigators estimated the summarized RRs and 95 percent CIs using the Der Simonian and Laird random effect model. They also conducted dose-response analyses using restricted cubic splines.

“The relationship between DII and the risk of hypertension is inconsistent across published epidemiological studies,” the investigators said. “This meta-analysis [explored] the dose-response relationship between DII score and the risk of hypertension.”