Dietary and other non-pharmacological treatments in patients with drug-treated hypertension and control subjects

Objective. To study the nutrient intakes and other lifestyle patterns of dr ug-treated hypertensives and control subjects. Design. A cross-sectional population-based epidemiological study. Setting. The participating study subjects visited the research laboratory o f the Department of Internal Medicine of the University of Oulu, Oulu, Finl and. Participants. A total of 1045 Finnish men and women aged 40-60 years, of wh om 716 (69%) completed 7-day food records. Main outcome measures. Intakes of energy, protein, total fat, saturated, mo nounsaturated and polyunsaturated fatty acids, carbohydrate, alcohol, fibre , calcium, magnesium, potassium and sodium were assessed from 7-day food re cords. The study also included measurements of blood pressure, blood glucos e and plasma lipids, and anthropometric variables. Information about alcoho l consumption, smoking habits and physical activity was collected by interv iewing. Results. Obesity was common amongst the hypertensive subjects, whose body m ass indices were significantly higher than those of the control subjects. O nly minor differences existed in the energy intake levels and nutrient inta kes of the hypertensive and control cohorts, but the control subjects perfo rmed more physical activity than the hypertensive subjects. The dietary rec ommendations concerning the intakes of total and saturated fats, carbohydra te and fibre were poorly met by both the hypertensive and the control subje cts. Alcohol consumption was high amongst the hypertensive men, especially amongst the smokers. Conclusions. Non-pharmacological treatment, including dietary management, o f hypertensive patients at high risk for cardiovascular complications seems still to be inadequate. Additional well-focused efforts are needed to inte nsify the dietary treatment as well as to reduce alcohol consumption and sm oking amongst hypertensives.