Adherence to dietary approaches to stop hypertension (DASH), Mediterranean diet, and plant-based dietary pattern with systolic and diastolic blood pressure: A cross-sectional analysis.

Background: Dietary patterns based on plant foods are proposed as a means of controlling blood pressure. This study aimed to assess the adherence to Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH), Mediterranean, and plant-based dietary pattern and their association with systolic (SBP) and diastolic (DBP) blood pressure among patients with hypertension participated in the SUMS Employees Health Cohort Study (SUMS EHCS).

Methods: This cross-sectional study included 226 adults with hypertension, enrolled in the SUMS EHCS. The score of DASH, Mediterranean, and plant-based dietary patterns were measured, using a- 116 item food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). Plant-based dietary indices were measured and comprised of total (t-PDI), healthy (h-PDI), and unhealthy (u-PDI) plant-based dietary index. The association of each dietary score with SBP and DBP were analyzed by multivariate linear regression after adjusting for age, sex, educational level, marital status, smoking, BMI, energy intake, physical activity, having other diseases, and family history of hypertension.

Results: The means of SBP and DBP were 127.82±15.87 and 83.51±11.22 mmHg, respectively. No significant association was seen between DASH or Mediterranean score with SBP and DBP after controlling the confounders. Although, t-PDI was significantly associated with both SBP (β; -0.53, 95% CI; -0.91, -0.15) and DBP (β; -0.30, 95% CI; -0.54, -0.03), h-PDI and u-PDI was not significantly associated with blood pressure after taking all the potential confounders into account.

Conclusion: No significant associations could be found between DASH, Mediterranean, and healthy or unhealthy plant-based dietary index, and blood pressure levels among hypertensive individuals.