Food processing and risk of hypertension: Cohort of Universities of Minas Gerais, Brazil (CUME Project)

• Published in: Public health nutrition Vol. 24; no. 13; pp. 4071 - 4079
• Main Authors: Rezende-Alves, Katiusse, Hermsdorff, Helen Hermana Miranda, Miranda, Aline Elizabeth da Silva, Lopes, Aline Cristine Souza, Bressan, Josefina, Pimenta, Adriano Marçal
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press 01-09-2021
• Subjects: Adult; Antihypertensives; Blood pressure; Brazil - epidemiology; Cardiology; Colleges & universities; Confidence intervals; Diet; Disease; Family income; Fast Foods; Female; Food; Food consumption; Food Handling; Food processing; Fruits; Humans; Hypertension; Hypertension - epidemiology; Hypertension - etiology; Lifestyles; Longitudinal Studies; Male; Medical diagnosis; Middle Aged; Nutritional Epidemiology; Oils & fats; Processed foods; Prospective Studies; Questionnaires; Regression analysis; Regression models; Research Paper; Risk assessment; Risk management; Risk reduction; Robustness (mathematics); Sociodemographics; Statistical analysis; Universities; Womens health; Brazil; Hypertension; Ultra-processed food; Adults; Food consumption
• ISSN: 1368-9800; 1475-2727; 1475-2727
• DOI: 10.1017/S1368980020002074

To analyse the association between food consumption according to the degree of processing and incidence of hypertension in CUME project participants.
Longitudinal study in which food consumption was evaluated according to the percentage contribution of daily energetic intake (%/d) of each NOVA classification group (unprocessed/minimally processed foods and culinary preparations (U/MPF&CP); processed foods and ultra-processed foods (UPF)). Hypertension was defined according to American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association (ACC/AHA) criteria. Adjusted relative risks (RR) and their 95% confidence intervals (95 % CI) were estimated by Poisson regression models with robust variances.
Brazil.
1221 graduates classified as non-hypertensive at baseline and monitored for 2 years.
Daily energetic percentage from each group according to degree of processing was 64·3 (sd 12) % for U/MPF 9·9 (sd 5·8) % for processed foods and 25·8 (sd 11) % for UPF. Incidence of hypertension was high (152/1000 person-years; n 113, 193/1000 person-years in males and n 257, 138/1000 person-years in females). After adjusting for potential confounders, participants in the upper quintile of daily energetic intake of U/MPF&CP presented a reduced risk of hypertension (RR: 0·72; 95 % CI 0·52, 0·98), while those in the upper quintile of daily energetic intake of UPF presented an increased risk of the outcome (RR: 1·35; 95 % CI 1·01, 1·81).
In this prospective cohort of Brazilian middle-aged adult university graduates, the highest consumptions of U/MPF&CP and UPF were associated with, respectively, reduced and increased risk of hypertension. Additional longitudinal studies are needed to confirm our results.