ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: More caloric intake and less physical activity engenders more obesity and any degree of weight gain even to the level that is not defined as overweight is associated with an increase of hypertension. It is not defined that if total caloric intake irrespective of weight gain had any effect on blood pressure. This is an observational study about the relationships between blood pressure and daily calorie intake in 1,061 female and 890 male aged 20-51 years. METHOD: Relation of daily total caloric intake and blood pressure in normotensive and hypertensive samples. Dietary data were obtained from a food-frequency questionnaire which was analyzed by software designed for Iranian foods designed by Isfahan cardiovascular research center to calculate the total daily caloric intake. Blood pressure was measured three times by korotkoff method. The relation between daily total caloric intake and blood pressure was analyzed by general linear regression and logistic regression. RESULTS: Generalized linear regression revealed no significant relation between either systolic or diastolic blood pressure and daily total caloric intake irrespective of normal or abnormal blood pressure. This association remained non-significant even after adjustment for body mass index (BMI) p<0.05. Logistic regression analysis revealed that there is no significant relation between total caloric intake and existence of systolic or diastolic hypertension OR=1, p>0.05. After adjustment for BMI also, there was no significant relation between these two parameters OR=1, p>0.05. CONCLUSION: Usual relation between caloric intake and blood pressure in obese may be due to insulin resistance induced by obesity. So total daily caloric intake in general population had no significant effect on blood pressure and on development of hypertension when the effect of obesity is adjusted.