VEGETARIAN AND OTHER COMPLEX DIETS, FATS, FIBER, AND HYPERTENSION

Although much of the attention on diet and hypertension has centered around the rule of specific nutrients such as sodium, potassium, and alcohol, it has become evident that certain complex dietary patterns have a blood pressure-lowering effect and may help protect against the development of hypertension. It remains to be seen whether these effects on blood pressure require complex but specific combinations of nutrients or, alternatively, are due to hitherto unrecognized single nutrients with antihypertensive properties. The issues are difficult to resolve because people eat foods, not single nutrients, and there is a high degree of association between different nutrients in foods and patterns of food intake, as well as potentially confounding effects of other factors associated with eating habits such as age, body fat distribution, physical activity, alcohol consumption, tobacco use, and psychosocial stress.