INDIGENOUS Africans who consume at least 12 servings of vegetables per week are less likely to be hypertensive, particularly among males and young adults, a study has revealed.
In a study of the effect of vegetable consumption on hypertension among adults in five African countries, the researchers said promoting early and frequent vegetable consumption may provide a veritable intervention for the primary prevention of hypertension in Africa.
The study harmonized data on prior vegetable consumption and hypertension occurrence from 16,445 participants across five African countries (Nigeria, South Africa, Kenya, Ghana and Burkina Faso) in the Stroke Investigative Research and Educational Network and Africa Wits-INDEPTH partnership for Genomic Studies.
Using a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ), participants across studies provided information on vegetable consumption in servings and the frequency consumed in a typical day/week/month in the last 12 months.
The level of vegetable consumption was characterized as follows: ‘low’ (< 6 servings), ‘moderate’ (6–11 servings), ‘sufficient’ (12–29 servings), or ‘high’ (≥30 servings). It was in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology.
Overall, 6672 (40.6%) of participants had ‘low’ vegetable consumption, and 1,758 (10.7%) had ‘high’ vegetable consumption. The proportion of hypertensives among participants with ‘low’ and ‘high’ vegetable consumption were 3,048 (45.7%) and 685 (39.0%) respectively.
From the study, the odds of hypertension tend to decrease with an increase in the frequency of vegetable consumption from about 10 servings per week after adjusting for country of residence and similar factors that influence blood pressure like sex, age, smoking, alcohol use and physical inactivity.
The researchers declared: “Our findings support the results of a prospective cohort where higher vegetable consumption was inversely related to incident hypertension in the United States. The case is not different for vegetable consumption and incident hypertension among adults in a sample of Koreans and Chinese.
“Early public health intervention promoting vegetable consumption before cardiovascular disease (CVD) manifestation might be necessary as ageing-related alterations in the arrangement of blood vessels in the body could promote CVD manifestation.
“Consumer guidance and health education promoting vegetable consumption should be combined with overall healthy dietary practices and lifestyle habits, including intense physical activity and smoking and alcohol deterrence.
“As countries are working towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goal of ensuring healthy lives across the life course, recommending at least 12 servings of vegetable consumption per week might be a strategic public health recommendation for promoting improved cardiovascular health among Africans.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has suggested that an individual requires at least 400g (5 standard servings) per day of fruits and vegetables as a minimum requirement for adequate consumption.
