A Modified Recommended Food Score Is Associated with a Lower Incidence of High Blood Pressure in Middle-Aged and Older Korean Men: The Korean Genome and Epidemiology Study

Abstract

ObjectivesThis cohort study investigated the association between the modified RFS (Recommended Food Score) and incident high blood pressure in Korean adults from the Korean Genome and Epidemiology Study (KoGES).MethodsWe prospectively analysed 2,854 (1,028 men and 1,556 women) participants aged 40–69 years without high blood pressure at baseline during a 16-year follow-up period. A dish-based, semi-quantitative, 103-item food frequency questionnaire was used to assess dietary intakes at baseline. The modified RFS (a total of 65 points) is based on the reported consumption of foods recommended in the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet modified for Korean foods. High blood pressure included hypertension and prehypertension, also known as stage 1 hypertension (a systolic blood pressure ≥120 mmHg, diastolic blood pressure ≥80 mmHg). Cox proportional hazards model was used to examine the association between modified RFS scores and the risk of incident high blood pressure.ResultsA total of 1,663 participants (761 men and 902 women) developed high blood pressure during an average follow-up of 87 months (range 17‒183 months). The modified RFS was positively correlated with the DASH diet score in men (r = 0.6492; p < 0.0001) and women (r = 0.7291; p < 0.0001), respectively. Men with the highest quintile of the modified RFS had a 24% lower incidence of high blood pressure than those with the lowest quintile (adjusted hazard ratio = 0.76, 95% confidence interval = 0.60–0.96, p-trend = 0.0218). However, there was no association between modified RFS and incident high blood pressure in women.ConclusionsA higher modified RFS was associated with a reduced risk of incident high blood pressure in middle-aged and older Korean men. Further prospective studies of larger scale or intervention studies are needed to confirm these findings.Funding SourcesThis work was supported by the Bio & Medical Technology Development Program of the National Research Foundation funded by the Ministry of Science & ICT (2012M3A9C4048761) and the BK21 FOUR (Fostering Outstanding Universities for Research) funded by the Ministry of Education (MOE, Korea) and National Research Foundation of Korea.