Was eating more yogurt linked to a lower risk of developing high blood pressure?

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Researchers examined the longitudinal associations of dairy consumption with changes in blood pressure and the risk of developing hypertension among adults. The study included 2,636 Framingham Heart Study Offspring Cohort members who participated in the fifth through eighth examinations from 1991 to 2008 and did not have hypertension at their first examination during follow-up.

At each examination, dietary intake was assessed using a validated food frequency questionnaire (FFQ), blood pressure was measured following standardized procedures, and antihypertensive medication use was recorded by physician-elicited self-report. Hypertension was defined as systolic blood pressure (SBP) of at least 140 mmHg, diastolic blood pressure (DBP) of at least 90 mmHg, or use of antihypertensive medication.

Researchers used repeated-measure regression to examine annualized blood pressure changes in 2,075 participants and discrete-time hazard regression to examine incident hypertension in 2,340 participants, including 1,026 cases. Covariates included demographic characteristics, lifestyle, overall diet quality, metabolic factors, and medication use.

Greater intake of total dairy foods, total low-fat or fat-free dairy foods, low-fat or skimmed milk, and yogurt was associated with smaller annualized increases in SBP and a lower projected risk of incident hypertension. Except for total dairy foods and yogurt, these inverse associations with hypertension risk weakened as follow-up time increased. Each additional serving of yogurt was associated with a 6% lower risk of incident hypertension (95% confidence interval: 1% to 10%). Total dairy and total low-fat or fat-free dairy intake were also inversely related to changes in DBP.

The authors concluded that dairy consumption as part of a nutritious, energy-balanced dietary pattern may benefit blood pressure control and prevent or delay the onset of hypertension.