Habitual food consumption, eating behavior and meal-timing among Jordanian adults with elevated Blood pressure: a cross-sectional population-based study

Abstract

Background

The prevalence of elevated blood pressure (BP) has been raised worldwide. Food consumption, eating habits, and nutritional lifestyle related to meal timing, skipping meals, and meal contents have recently received more attention in studies on BP and metabolic syndrome. Purpose: This study evaluated the association between habitual food consumption, eating behavior, and meal timing with BP among Jordanian adults.

Methods

A cross-sectional study included 771 Jordanian adults. A food frequency questionnaire was completed. Data about eating habits, meal timing, and emotional eating were collected. BP was measured.

Results

The prevalence of less than recommended intake of vegetables, milk, protein, and fruits was higher in participants with elevated BP (69.2%, 90.2%, 58.9%, and 25.5%, respectively) as compared to the normal BP group (p < 0.001). Consuming vegetables and milk less than the recommended was reported to significantly increase the likelihood of elevated BP by OR= (1.60, and 2.75 (95%CI: 1.06-2.40; 1.62-4.66). Hence, consuming more than recommended fruit reduced the risk of elevated BP by OR = 0.56 (95%CI: 0.38-0.82). A 63.2% of elevated BP participants have three meals daily, a higher percentage of intake of one (23.5%) and two (45.7%) snacks. However, they had a higher percentage of morning eaters (50.7%), had lunch between 1:00-6:00 PM (92.7%), and had dinner between 6:00 and 9:00 PM (68.1%).

Conclusions

Although Jordanian adults with elevated BP appear to have healthy eating habits and meal timing and frequency, their habitual food consumption falls short of the daily recommendations for milk, fruits, vegetables, and protein.

Plain summary

• Numerous epidemiological studies have revealed a steadily rising prevalence of elevated BP, and one critical independent and modifiable risk factor for this condition is obesity.

• One global non-communicable diseases (NCD) target adopted by the World Health Assembly in 2013 is to lower the prevalence of raised BP by 25% by 2025 compared with its 2010 level.

• Lifestyle improvement is a cornerstone of CVD prevention; diet is one of the most effective strategies for attaining BP reduction and control as low-salt diets, dietary approaches to stop hypertension (DASH), a low-salt Mediterranean diet, an energy-restriction diet, vegetarian diet, and alternate-day fasting.

• Eating habits and nutritional lifestyle related to meal timing, skipping meals, and meal contents have recently received more attention in studies on BP and metabolic syndrome.

• a relationship between elevated BP and metabolic syndrome, infrequent fruit eating, skipping meals, irregular meal frequency and timing, and obesity has been found among adults.

• It has been found that earlier meal timing could reduce cardiometabolic disease burden and aid in weight loss; on the other hand, meal frequency was inversely associated with the prevalence of abdominal obesity, elevated BP, and elevated triglycerides. Morning eating was associated with a lower prevalence of metabolic syndrome than no morning eating.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• elevated blood pressure
• fruit and vegetable consumption
• meal timing
• emotional eating
• skipping meals
• night eating

Acknowledgment

We introduce a great thanks to the study participants.

Source of Support

None.

Authors Declaration

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Ethics approval

The study protocol was reviewed and approved by the institutional review board of The Hashemite University (No.19/1/2022/2023) and Jordan Ministry of Health (MBA/20219).

Consent to participate

All participants were informed about the study objectives at the beginning of the questionnaire, then they expressed their informed consent to participate, and their data were anonymous.

Authors’ contribution

Lana M. Agraib conceived the research idea, data analysis, and manuscript preparation. Buthaina Alkhatib conceived the research idea and prepared the manuscript. Islam Al-Shami conceived the research idea, preparation, and overall scientific management and participated in manuscript preparation and data collection. All authors critically revised the manuscript, approved the final version to be published, and agreed to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Additional information

Funding

The Hashemite University 19/1/2022/2023 Jordan Ministry of Health MBA/20219