Abstract
Prevention and control of hypertension and cerebro-cardiovascular diseases are associated with adequate sodium and potassium intake and adherence to a Mediterranean dietary pattern. The aim of this study was to assess the association between adherence to a Mediterranean diet (MD) and the excretion of sodium and potassium as surrogate measures of intake. This is a cross-sectional analysis as part of a larger study (the iMC SALT randomized controlled trial) among workers of a public university. A food frequency questionnaire was used to assess the adherence to MD, using the alternative Mediterranean diet (aMED) score; sodium and potassium excretions were estimated by 24-h urine collections. Sociodemographic and other lifestyle characteristics were also obtained. The associations between the adherence to MD and Na and K excretion were calculated by logistic regression, adjusting for confounding variables. From the 109 selected participants, seven were excluded considering urine screening and completeness criteria, leaving a final sample of 102 subjects (48% male, average age 47 years). Mean sodium and potassium excretion were 3216 mg/day and 2646 mg/day, respectively. Sodium and potassium excretion were significantly higher in men, but no differences were found according to different levels of MD adherence. In logistic regression analysis, sodium, potassium, and sodium-to-potassium ratio urinary excretion tertiles were not associated with MD adherence (low/moderate versus high), even after adjustment for confounding variables. A high adherence to MD was thus not associated with a different level of sodium and potassium intake.
Highlights
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of disease in the world [1,2] causing an estimated 31% of worldwide deaths [3] and hypertension is one of the known major risk factors for CVD, in addition to lifestyle, physical inactivity, genetic and dietary factors [4]
Mean (±SD) systolic blood pressure was 126.6 ± 18.6 mm Hg, significantly higher in males (p < 0.001); diastolic blood pressure was significantly higher in males than females (p = 0.005) with a mean of 80.3 ± 14.5 mm Hg; hypertension was reported in 24.5% of men and 11.3% of women (Table 1)
This indicated that Mediterranean diet, a well-known dietary pattern associated with several healthy outcomes, is not related to the amount of ingested salt, an important risk factor involved in the development of cardio and cerebrovascular diseases [7,8,9]
Summary
Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of disease in the world [1,2] causing an estimated 31% of worldwide deaths [3] and hypertension is one of the known major risk factors for CVD, in addition to lifestyle, physical inactivity, genetic and dietary factors [4]. The Mediterranean diet is an expression of a lifestyle described by Keys is the 1960s [22] which has been related to a wide range of different healthy outcomes, including lower BP and a decreased risk for cardiovascular events [23,24,25] This dietary pattern is characterized by the use of olive oil as the main source of fat, a high intake of plant-based foods, including fruits, vegetables, whole grains and cereals and legumes, low to moderate red wine consumption, low consumption of meat and meat products and increased consumption of fish and moderate consumption of milk and dairy products
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