Meal patterns and incident hypertension in community-dwelling middle-aged adults : An 11-year follow-up cohort study

Objective:
We aimed to examine whether meal patterns, as well as energy intake from three main meals and snacks, were associated with incident hypertension.

Methods:
We included 12 995 participants aged 18–59 years from the China Health and Nutrition Survey in the final analysis. Dietary intake was assessed using weighing methods in combination with 24-h food records. Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to examine the association of meal patterns, and energy intake from different meals with incident hypertension.

Results:
During a mean follow-up of 11.2 years, 4766 new hypertension cases were documented. Four meal patterns were derived according to energy intake: balanced, breakfast dominant, lunch dominant, and dinner dominant patterns. Dinner dominant meal pattern was associated with a lower risk of incident hypertension [hazard ratio (95% confidence interval): 0.90 (0.84–0.98)] compared with the balanced meal pattern. Breakfast energy intake was positively, but dinner energy intake was inversely associated with incident hypertension. The positive association between breakfast energy intake and incident hypertension was observed in rural residents only [1.22 (1.07–1.41) for rural residents, 0.98 (0.82–1.18) for urban residents; P interaction = 0.0348]. A positive association between energy intake from lunch and incident hypertension was observed in the urban residents only.

Conclusion:
Dinner dominant meal pattern was associated with a lower risk of hypertension compared with the balanced meal pattern in Chinese adults. A relatively small breakfast and large dinner may help to prevent or delay the development of hypertension, especially in urban residents.