NEW YORK (Reuters Health) -
In a study of middle-aged
adults, maintaining a diet high in linoleic acid — the main
dietary polyunsaturated fatty acid found in certain plants and
vegetables — seemed to lower the risk of developing high blood
pressure.

“These results lend support to current recommendations for
increased ingestion of polyunsaturated fatty acids from
vegetable sources, instead of saturated fats from animal
sources, for cardiovascular disease prevention,” Dr. Katsuyuki
Miura, of Shiga University of Medical Science, Japan said in an
interview with Reuters Health.

Miura and colleagues examined ties between dietary linoleic
acid and blood pressure in 4,680 men and women between the ages
of 40 and 59 years from China, Japan, the United Kingdom, and
the United States.

In analyses controlling for factors that might influence
the results, the researchers found a trend toward lower blood
pressure with higher consumption of linoleic acid for all the
participants.

Moreover, they found that the relationship was stronger in
a subgroup of 2,238 subjects who were not on an interventional
program - that is, they were not on a special diet, not taking
nutritional supplements, had no diagnosed heart disease or
diabetes, and were not taking medication for high blood
pressure, cardiovascular disease, or diabetes.

“From our findings, we recommend that people consume a fare
moderate (not low) in linoleic acid (or polyunsaturated fatty
acids intake) from vegetable sources, instead of saturated fats
from animal sources, in order to help keep blood pressure
optimal and to prevent hypertension,” Miura said.

“Favorable population-wide dietary modification can move
the distribution of blood pressure of a population to a
favorable direction,” she added. Even a small decrease in
average blood pressure of the whole population has a big effect
on the risk of illness and death related to heart disease, she
noted.

SOURCE: Hypertension, September 2008.