ABSTRACT

The study aimed at assessing the relationship between dietary intake and blood pressure among urban adults in Umuahia North Local Government Area, Abia State. This cross-sectional study used simple random technique to select 439 adults comprising of 198 males and 241 females of Afara and Amuzukwu community in Umuahia North Local Government Area. A validated questionnaire was used to collect information on socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents, while the anthropometric measurement of the respondents were taken using standard equipment and procedures. Automatic blood pressure sphygmomanometer was used to determine the blood pressure of the respondents. Food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) and 24-hour dietary recall were used to assess food intake of the respondents which was used to calculate the nutrient intake. Statistical package for social sciences IBM (SPSS) software (version 23.0) was used to analyze the data. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics, chi square and Pearson correlation. A P-value of less than 0.05 was accepted as statistically significant. Many (39.4%) of the respondents had normal blood pressure, (males = 37.4%; females = 41.1%). Furthermore, 32.2% of the males had stage I and stage 2 hypertension respectively, while very few (27.8%) of the females had stage 1 and 2 hypertension. Less than half (46.5%) of the respondents had a normal body mass index (BMI) (males were 56.1% and females were 38.6%). Some (27.0%) of the females were obese, using BMI classification whereas, majority (71.6%) of the males had high risk waist-hip ratio. The results indicated that the respondents had estimated intake above recommended nutrient intake (RNI) for energy (50.2%), carbohydrates (92.9%), protein (76.9%) and iron (93.1%). However the correlation result only showed a relationship between blood pressure and three nutrients which were protein (r = 0.102; P = 0.038), iron (r = 0.096; P = 0.048) and sodium (r = -0.117; P = 0.017). Nutrition remain a modifiable risk factor for reducing blood pressure of an individual. Therefore, efforts should be made to encourage the public on healthy and adequate nutrient intake as it has a bearing with blood pressure.