Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2011 Feb;93(2):338-47.
doi: 10.3945/ajcn.110.006783. Epub 2010 Nov 24.

Habitual intake of flavonoid subclasses and incident hypertension in adults

Aedín Cassidy  1 , Éilis J O'Reilly, Colin Kay, Laura Sampson, Mary Franz, J P Forman, Gary Curhan, Eric B Rimm
Affiliations

Habitual intake of flavonoid subclasses and incident hypertension in adults

Aedín Cassidy et al. Am J Clin Nutr. 2011 Feb.

Abstract

Background: Dietary flavonoids have beneficial effects on blood pressure in intervention settings, but there is limited information on habitual intake and risk of hypertension in population-based studies.

Objective: We examined the association between habitual flavonoid intake and incident hypertension in a prospective study in men and women.

Design: A total of 87,242 women from the Nurses' Health Study (NHS) II, 46,672 women from the NHS I, and 23,043 men from the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study (HPFS) participated in the study. Total flavonoid and subclass intakes were calculated from semiquantitative food-frequency questionnaires collected every 4 y by using an updated and extended US Department of Agriculture database.

Results: During 14 y of follow-up, 29,018 cases of hypertension in women and 5629 cases of hypertension in men were reported. In pooled multivariate-adjusted analyses, participants in the highest quintile of anthocyanin intake (predominantly from blueberries and strawberries) had an 8% reduction in risk of hypertension [relative risk (RR): 0.92; 95% CI: 0.86, 0.98; P < 0.03] compared with that for participants in the lowest quintile of anthocyanin intake; the risk reduction was 12% (RR: 0.88; 95% CI: 0.84, 0.93; P < 0.001) in participants ≤60 y of age and 0.96 (0.91, 1.02) in participants >60 y of age (P for age interaction = 0.02). Although intakes of other subclasses were not associated with hypertension, pooled analyses for individual compounds suggested a 5% (95% CI: 0.91, 0.99; P = 0.005) reduction in risk for the highest compared with the lowest quintiles of intake of the flavone apigenin. In participants ≤60 y of age, a 6% (95% CI: 0.88, 0.97; P = 0.002) reduction in risk was observed for the flavan-3-ol catechin when the highest and the lowest quintiles were compared.

Conclusions: Anthocyanins and some flavone and flavan-3-ol compounds may contribute to the prevention of hypertension. These vasodilatory properties may result from specific structural similarities (including the B-ring hydroxylation and methyoxylation pattern).

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

FIGURE 1.
FIGURE 1.
Major contributors to dietary intake by subclass of flavonoid in the Nurses' Health Study (NHS 1), the Nurses' Health Study 2 (NHS 2), and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study (HPFS).
FIGURE 2.
FIGURE 2.
A–D: Incident hypertension by quintiles (Q) of anthocyanin intake (stratified by age <60 y). NHS II, Nurses' Health Study II; NHS I, Nurses' Health Study; HPFS, Health Professionals Follow-Up Study. P for trend < 0.001.
FIGURE 3.
FIGURE 3.
Common flavonoid structures. Catechol flavonoids and their methyl- and 4′-hydroxy derivatives. A: Basic catechol flavonoid structure. B: Structure of apocynin, which is a vasoactive drug (similar in structure to methylated B-ring flavonoids). C: Catechol flavonoids in the diet (anthocyanin, cyanidin; flavan-3-ol, catechin) and a naturally occurring methyl derivative (anthocyanin, peonidin) in plants. D: 4′ Hydroxy flavonoids (anthocyanin, pelargonidin; flavone, apigenin).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Chobanian AV, Bakris GL, Black HR, et al. Seventh report of the Joint National Committee on Prevention, Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Pressure. Hypertension 2003;42:1206–52 - PubMed
    1. Appel LJ, Moore TJ, Obarzanek E, et al. A clinical trial of the effects of dietary patterns on blood pressure. DASH Collaborative Research Group. N Engl J Med 1997;336:1117–24 - PubMed
    1. Appel LJ, Brands MW, Daniels SR, Karanja N, Elmer PJ, Sacks FM. Dietary approaches to prevent and treat hypertension: a scientific statement from the American Heart Association. Hypertension 2006;47:296–308 - PubMed
    1. Sacks FM, Svetkey LP, Vollmer WM, et al. Effects on blood pressure of reduced dietary sodium and the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet. DASH-Sodium Collaborative Research Group. N Engl J Med 2001;344:3–10 - PubMed
    1. Erdman JW, Jr, Balentine D, Arab L, et al. Flavonoids and heart health: proceedings of the ILSI North America Flavonoids Workshop, May 31-June 1, 2005, Washington, DC. J Nutr 2007;137:718S–37S - PubMed

Publication types

MeSH terms