Association of Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension diet and Mediterranean diet with blood pressure in less-developed ethnic minority regions

Objective: We aimed to investigate the association of Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH)-style diet and Mediterranean-style diet with blood pressure in less-developed ethnic minority regions (LMERs). Design: Cross-sectional study. Setting: Dietary intakes were assessed by a validated food frequency questionnaire. Dietary quality was assessed by the DASH-style diet score and the alternative Mediterranean-style diet (aMED) score. The association between dietary quality and blood pressure was evaluated using multivariate linear regression model. We further examined those associations in subgroups of blood pressure level. Participants: A total of 81433 adults from the China Multi-Ethnic Cohort (CMEC) study were included in this study. Results: In the overall population, compared with the lowest quintile, the highest quintile of DASH-style diet score was negatively associated with systolic BP (coefficient: −2.78, 95% CI: −3.15 to −2.41; P-trend<0.001), while the highest quintile of aMED score had a weaker negative association with systolic BP (coefficient: −1.43, 95% CI: −1.81 to −1.05; P-trend<0.001). Both dietary indices also showed a weaker effect on diastolic BP (coefficient for DASH-style diet: −1.06, 95% CI: −1.30 to −0.82; coefficient for aMED: −0.43, 95% CI: −0.68 to −0.19). In the subgroup analysis, both dietary indices showed a stronger beneficial effect on systolic BP in the hypertension group than in either of the other subgroups. Conclusion: Our results indicated that the healthy diet originating from Western developed countries can also have beneficial effects on blood pressure in LEMRs. DASH-style diet may be a more appropriate recommendation than aMED as part of a dietary strategy to control blood pressure, especially in hypertensive patients.

The Association of Plant-Based Diet With Cardiovascular Disease and Mortality: A Meta-Analysis and Systematic Review of Prospect Cohort Studies

Background: The association between plant-based diets and cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains poorly characterized. Given that diet represents an important and a modifiable risk factor, this study aimed to assess (1) the relationships between the impact of adherence to plant-based diets on cardiovascular mortality, incident CVD, and stroke; (2) if associations differed by adherence to healthful and less healthful plant-based diets.Methods and Findings: MEDLINE and EMBASE databases were searched up to May 2021. Studies assessing CVD outcomes with relation to plant-based dietary patterns or according to plant-based dietary indices (PDI) were included. A meta-analysis of hazard ratios (HR) was conducted using DerSimonian and Laird random effects model. Thirteen studies involving 410,085 participants were included. Greater adherence to an overall plant-based dietary pattern was significantly associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular mortality (pooled HR: 0.92, 95% CI: 0.86–0.99 p = 0.0193, I2 = 88.5%, N = 124,501) and a lower risk of CVD incidence (pooled HR: 0.90, 95% CI: 0.82–0.98, p = 0.0173, I2 = 87.2%, N = 323,854). Among the studies that used PDI, unhealthful plant-based diets were associated with increased risk of cardiovascular mortality (pooled HR: 1.05, 95% CI: 1.01–1.09, p = 0.0123, I2 = 0.00%, N = 18,966), but not CVD incidence. Conversely, healthful plant-based diets were associated with decreased CVD incidence (pooled HR: 0.87, 95% CI: 0.80–0.95, p = 0.0011, I2 = 57.5%, N = 71,301), but not mortality. Vegetarians also had significantly lower CVD incidence (HR: 0.81, 95% CI: 0.72–0.91, p = 0.0004, I2 = 22.2%, N = 16,254), but similar CVD mortality or stroke risk when compared to the meat-eaters.Conclusion: To date, this comprehensive study examines the effects of a plant-based diet on major clinical endpoints using more holistic PDIs. These findings highlight the favorable role of healthful plant-based foods in reducing cardiovascular mortality and CVD.

Plant-Based Dietary Patterns and the Incidence of Diabetes in the Boston Puerto Rican Health Study

Objectives To examine the associations between the plant-based diet and risk of developing diabetes in participants of the Boston Puerto Rican Health Study. Methods Included were 691 Puerto Ricans aged 45–75 years who were free of diabetes at baseline. Dietary intake was assessed via a validated food frequency questionnaire. Three plant-based dietary indices were then calculated, including an overall plant-based diet index (PDI), healthful plant-based diet index (hPDI), and an unhealthful plant-based diet index (uPDI). Incident diabetes was defined as fasting plasma glucose 126 mg/dL [7.0 mmol/L], hemoglobin A1c 6.5% [48 mmol/mol] or use of any hypoglycemic agents during follow-up. Cox proportional hazards models were used to evaluate the associations between the plant-based dietary patterns and the incidence of diabetes, adjusting for potential confounders, such as age, sex, socioeconomic status, lifestyle factors, obesity, total energy intake, depression, and plasma concentrations of c-reactive protein and lipid profiles. Results During the 5-years of follow-up, we identified 139 incident diabetes cases. After adjustment for covariates, hPDI was inversely associated with the risk for developing diabetes (P-trend = 0.04). The adjusted hazard ratio (HR) for the highest vs lowest tertiles of hPDI was 0.56 (95% confidence interval: 0.32–0.96). In contrast, The PDI and uPDI dietary indices were not significantly associated with the risk of diabetes (P-trend &gt; 0.2 for both). Conclusions The healthful plant-based dietary index was associated with a lower risk of diabetes. These findings suggest that the healthful plant-based dietary index may be beneficial for the prevention of the development of diabetes. Funding Sources This project was supported by the National Institute on Aging, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institue, and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences.

Are Dietary Indices Associated with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome and Its Phenotypes? A Preliminary Study

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a complex hormonal disorder which impairs ovarian function. The adherence to healthy dietary patterns and physical exercise are the first line of recommended treatment for PCOS patients, but it is yet unclear what type of diet is more adequate. In this case-control study, we explored associations between adherence to five dietary quality indices and the presence of PCOS. We enrolled 126 cases of PCOS and 159 controls living in Murcia (Spain). Diagnostic of PCOS and its phenotypes were established following the Rotterdam criteria (hyperandrogenism (H), oligoanovulation (O), polycystic ovaries morphology (POM)). We used a validated food frequency questionnaires to calculate the scores of five dietary indices: alternate Healthy Eating index (AHEI), AHEI-2010, relative Mediterranean Dietary Score (rMED), alternate Mediterranean Dietary Score (aMED) and Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH). We used multivariable logistic regression to estimate adjusted odds ratios and confidence intervals. In the multivariable analysis, AHEI-2010 index was inversely associated with Hyperandrogenism + Oligoanovulation PCOS phenotype (ORQ3 vs. Q1 = 0.1; 95% CI: (0.0; 0.9); Pfor trend = 0.02). We did not find any statistical significant association between dietary indices and total anovulatory or ovulatory PCOS. However, further studies with higher sample sizes exploring these associations among the diverse phenotypes of PCOS are highly warranted.