American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol 56, 71-76, Copyright © 1992 by The American Society for Clinical Nutrition, Inc

ORIGINAL RESEARCH COMMUNICATIONS

Effects of alterations in fatty acid intake on the blood pressure of adolescents: the Exeter-Andover Project

RJ Goldberg, RC Ellison, DW Hosmer Jr, AL Capper, E Puleo, WJ Gamble and J Witschi
Department of Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical School, Worcester 01655.

To judge the effect on blood pressure, the ratio of polyunsaturated to saturated fatty acids (P:S) of foods served to students at two boarding high schools was modified alternately at each school for one school year. The average P:S of the diet of males increased from 0.53 to 0.93 during the intervention whereas among females it increased from 0.64 to 0.98. Comparison of repeated systolic and diastolic blood pressure measurements near the end of the school year did not demonstrate a beneficial effect of the dietary fat changes on the blood pressure of these normotensive adolescents. Compared with the blood pressure patterns during control years, the dietary intervention resulted in slightly higher systolic (+0.88 mm Hg; 95% CI -0.66, +2.42) and diastolic (+1.23 mm Hg; 95% CI = +0.04, +2.42) blood pressure readings among males. Among females the intervention resulted in slightly lower systolic (-0.54 mm Hg; 95% CI = -1.95, +0.88) and diastolic (-0.80 mm Hg (95% CI -2.18, +0.58) blood pressure readings.

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