Flavonoid intake and risk of hypertension in two cohorts of Australian women

Epidemiological evidence suggests higher dietary flavonoid intake is associated with lower risk of several chronic diseases. A study investigated the association between intake of flavonoids and their subclasses, and incidence of hypertension among Australian women in two age cohorts.
The population-based study included 6,599 middle-aged and 6,099 reproductive-aged women from the Australian Longitudinal Study on Women’s Health. Food frequency questionnaires were used to quantify intake of flavonoids. The associations with incident hypertension, adjusting for demographic and dietary variables and hypertension risk factors were estimated.
There were 1,645 cases (24.9%) of hypertension during 15 years follow-up in the middle-aged cohort and 336 cases (5.5%) during 12 years follow-up in the reproductive-aged cohort. Higher intakes of flavones [adjusted relative risk (ARR) for quintile 5 vs. 1: 0.82, 95% CI 0.70-0.97], isoflavones (0.86, 0.75-0.99) and flavanones (0.83, 0.69-1.00) were associated with a lower risk of hypertension in the middle-aged cohort. In the reproductive-aged cohort, higher intakes of flavanols (0.70, 0.49-0.99) were associated with a lower risk of hypertension. Key foods that provided these flavonoids were oranges, orange juice, apples, red wine and soy milk.
Source: do Rosario VA, Schoenaker DAJM, Kent K, Weston-Green K, Charlton K. Association between flavonoid intake and risk of hypertension in two cohorts of Australian women: a longitudinal study. Eur J Nutr. 2021 Aug;60(5):2507-2519. .