Vegetarian diet associated with lower blood pressure

Conflicting evidence exists on the association between a vegetarian diet (involving no or rare meat consumption) and hypertension. In this meta-analysis, the authors included 7 controlled trials and 32 observational studies examining the association between vegetarian diets and hypertension. The 7 trials included 311 individuals with a mean age of 44.5 years. After pooling of trial results, a vegetarian diet was associated with a mean reduction in systolic blood pressure (SBP) by 4.8 mm Hg (95% CI 3.1 to 6.6 mm Hg reduction; P<0.001) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) by 2.2 mm Hg (95% CI 1.0 to 3.5 mm Hg reduction; P<0.001). The 32 observational studies included 21,604 individuals with a mean age of 46.6 years. After …