Fruit and vegetable intake and the risk of arterial hypertension in China: A prospective cohort study

BACKGROUND: Population‐based epidemiological evidence regarding the association between fruit and vegetable intake and the incidence of hypertension is inconsistent. This prospective cohort study aimed to investigate the association between fruit and vegetable intake and the risk of new‐onset hypertension. METHODS: Based on the project of Prediction for Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease Risk in China (China‐PAR), 58,981 Chinese adults without hypertension at baseline were included. Information on fruit and vegetable intake was collected using a food‐frequency questionnaire. Cox proportional hazards models were performed to estimate the hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of incident hypertension. RESULTS: During 640,795 person‐years of follow‐up, 21,008 new cases of hypertension were recorded. Compared with participants in the lowest quintile (Q1) of total fruit and vegetable (TFV) intake, the HRs (95% CIs) of incident hypertension were 0.90 (0.86–0.95), 0.85 (0.81–0.90), 0.82 (0.78–0.86), and 0.83 (0.78–0.88) for the Q2 to Q5 group (p (trend) < 0.001), respectively. In further analyses categorizing participants according to the recommended intake level (500 g/day), we found that increasing the intake of TFV, even though it was still insufficient for the recommendation, also had a protective effect against the incident hypertension. When considering the intake of fruit or vegetable separately, we found similar trends as the TFV intake. CONCLUSION: These results suggest that a higher intake of fruit and vegetable is beneficial for preventing hypertension in Chinese adults.