[Arterial pressure, obesity and fat and alcohol consumption]

The baseline data of 2 500 subjects included in the Paris Prospective Study II were used to explore the relationship between the frequency of hypertension and some variables closely linked to the diet. These variables are: body mass, alcohol consumption and the proportion of linoleic acid (C18:2) in the plasma cholesterol esters; the latter variable being used as a marker of dietary intake of linoleic acid. The results show, after adjustment on age and the presence of an antihypertensive treatment, a significant independent relationship between these factors and the frequency of hypertension. The adjusted relative frequency of hypertension is 1, 1.4 and 2.5 in the tertiles of increasing corpulence; 1, 1.2 and 1.7 in the tertiles of increasing alcohol consumption and 1, 0.6 and 0.8 in the tertiles of increasing C18:2. Furthermore, among the 263 subjects belonging simultaneously to the higher tertiles of corpulence and alcohol consumption and to the two lower tertiles of C18:2, the number of hypertensive subjects is 58 (22 p. 100 whereas among the 2 236 remaining subjects, 164 are hypertensives (7 p. 100). These results suggest that hypertension is frequently linked to dietary factors.