Blood pressure and sodium intake from snacks in adolescents

• Published in: European journal of clinical nutrition Vol. 69; no. 6; pp. 681 - 686
• Main Authors: Ponzo, V, Ganzit, G P, Soldati, L, De Carli, L, Fanzola, I, Maiandi, M, Durazzo, M, Bo, S
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 01.06.2015; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 692/499; 692/699/75/243; Adolescence; Adolescent; Adolescent Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; Adolescents; Analysis; Anthropometry; Blood Pressure; Body Mass Index; Body size; Child; Child Nutritional Physiological Phenomena; Clinical Nutrition; Cohort Studies; Confidence intervals; Cross-Sectional Studies; Epidemiology; Fast Foods - adverse effects; Female; Food; Food and nutrition; Food intake; Food processing; Health aspects; Humans; Internal Medicine; Italy - epidemiology; Male; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Metabolic Diseases; Nutrition research; original-article; Overweight - physiopathology; Prehypertension - epidemiology; Prehypertension - etiology; Processed foods; Public Health; Questionnaires; Regression analysis; Regression models; Risk; Snack foods; Snacks; Sodium; Sodium (Nutrient); Sodium, Dietary - administration & dosage; Sodium, Dietary - adverse effects; Statistical analysis; Surveys and Questionnaires; Teenagers; Urban Health; Youth; Italy
• ISSN: 0954-3007; 1476-5640; 1476-5640
• DOI: 10.1038/ejcn.2015.9

Background/Objectives: The relationship between sodium intake and arterial blood pressure (BP) values in adolescence is still controversial. The intake of high-sodium processed foods as snacks has gone up worldwide. The purpose of the present cross-sectional study was to analyze the association between BP values and sodium intake from snacks. Subjects/Methods: The mean weekly consumption of snacks was evaluated in 1200 randomly selected adolescents aged 11–13 years by a food-frequency questionnaire; their anthropometric and BP values were measured by trained researchers. A dietary 24-h food-recall questionnaire was randomly given to 400 of the 1200 adolescents. Results: Mean sodium intake from snacks was 1.4 g/day. Systolic and diastolic BP (SBP and DBP, respectively) significantly increased from the lower to the higher tertile of sodium from snacks and with increasing frequency of salty snacks consumption. In a multiple logistic regression model, both being in the highest SBP quartile and in the highest DBP quartile were significantly associated with the intake of sodium from snacks (odds ratio (OR)=1.48; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.14–1.91 and OR=2.17; 95% CI 1.68–2.79, respectively), the consumption of >2/day salty snacks (OR=1.86; 95% CI 1.32–2.63 and OR=2.38; 95% CI 1.69–3.37, respectively) and body mass index (OR=1.26; 95% CI 1.22–1.31 and OR=1.14; 95% CI 1.10–1.18, respectively) but not with age, sex or exercise levels. In the 400 individuals, the average total sodium intake was 3.1 g/day and was significantly higher in individuals belonging to the highest quartile of SBP and DBP. Conclusions: Sodium intake from snacks was almost half of the average daily sodium consumption and was significantly associated with BP values in adolescents.