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  • Special Issue: Current evidence and perspectives for hypertension management in Asia
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Association between dietary antioxidant indices and hypertension among Chinese adults

Hypertension Research volume 48, pages 121–130 (2025)Cite this article

Abstract

The effect of dietary antioxidants on blood pressure (BP) regulation and hypertension risk remains largely unknown. This study aimed to comprehensively assess the impacts of dietary antioxidants on systolic BP (SBP), diastolic BP (DBP), mean arterial pressure (MAP), and pulse pressure (PP), and hypertension risk among Chinese adults. The cross-sectional study assessed data from 12,046 Chinese adults, evaluating dietary antioxidant quality scores (DAQS) and total antioxidant capacity (DTAC) via a validated food frequency questionnaire. MAP was derived using the formula DBP + (0.412 ×PP), with PP calculated as SBP - DBP. The relationship between DAQS, DTAC, and hypertension prevalence was analyzed using multivariable logistic regression. Among participants not taking antihypertensive medications, those in the highest groups of DTAC and DAQS had significantly lower SBP, DBP, MAP, and PP compared to those in the lowest groups (all p-trends <0.001). Relative to the lowest quintile (Q1) of DTAC (adjusted odds ratios (OR) for hypertension decreased in Q2 (OR 0.90, 95%CI 0.79–1.03), Q3 (OR 0.65, 95% CI 0.56–0.76), Q4 (OR 0.51, 95% CI 0.43–0.60), and Q5 (OR 0.38, 95% CI 0.31–0.46) (p trend <0.001). For DQAS, hypertension OR of category 5 was 0.38 (95% CI 0.32–0.46) compared to that of category 1. Increased vitamin A, Zinc, and selenium intake correlated with reduced hypertension risk. A significant non-linear DTAC and linear DAQS relationships were observed and hypertension risk. Antioxidant-rich diets markedly lowered SBP, DBP, MAP, PP, and hypertension risk.

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Acknowledgements

YZ and XXL designed the study. XRL, QQL, YXX, and JXZ collected data and performed laboratory work. XXL wrote the manuscript and QAW involved in the analysis. YZ and YHZ critically revised the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. We gratefully acknowledge all those who contributed to the CNC-NX project.

Funding

This work was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Ningxia Province (Grant number, 2023AAC03163); National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant number, 82060592); Key Research and Development Program of Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region (Grant number, 2021BEG02026); and National Key Research and Development Project Ningxia cohort from China Northwest Cohort (Grant number, 2017YFC0907204).

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  1. These authors contributed equally: Xiaoxia Li, Qingan Wang

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Public Health of Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan, 750004, China

    Xiaoxia Li, Qingan Wang, Xinrong Liu, Qiuqiu Lan, Yixuan Xue, Jiaxing Zhang, Yuhong Zhang & Yi Zhao

  2. Key Laboratory of Environmental Factors and Chronic Disease Control, School of Public Health of Ningxia Medical University, Yinchuan, 750004, China

    Xiaoxia Li, Qingan Wang, Xinrong Liu, Qiuqiu Lan, Yixuan Xue, Jiaxing Zhang, Yuhong Zhang & Yi Zhao

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Li, X., Wang, Q., Liu, X. et al. Association between dietary antioxidant indices and hypertension among Chinese adults. Hypertens Res 48, 121–130 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41440-024-01839-9

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