Dietary factors causing hypertension in India

Abstract

The prevalence of hypertension was studied in 2,638 North Indian and 1,860 South Indian railway workers, all men, between 20 and 58 years of age, by determining casual arterial pressure. The main survey included 1,046 North Indian and 1,106 South Indian clerks from the Accounting Section of the Finance Branch, comparable in their socioeconomic status, nature of work, and wage bracket. The South Indian population showed a much higher prevalence of hypertension as well as higher mean arterial pressures, probably due to environmental rather than ethnic reasons. In neither of these populations was the prevalence of hypertension related to age, occupation, body weight, smoking, chronic pyelonephritis, dietary salt intake, or psychological factors. The differences appeared to be due to hemodynamic changes probably brought about by dietary factors (especially the long-chain versus short-chain fatty acids in fats consumed) by virtue of their effect on the size and nature of chylomicrons, blood viscosity, and peripheral resistance.