Relation of raw and cooked vegetable consumption to blood pressure: the INTERMAP Study.

Inverse associations have been reported of overall vegetable intake to blood pressure (BP); whether such relations prevail for both raw and cooked vegetables has not been examined. Here we report cross-sectional associations of vegetable intakes with BP for 2195 Americans ages 40-59 in the International Study of Macro/Micronutrients and Blood Pressure (INTERMAP) using four standardized multi-pass 24-h dietary recalls and eight BP measurements. Relations to BP of raw and cooked vegetables consumption, and main individual constituents were assessed by multiple linear regression. Intakes of both total raw and total cooked vegetables considered separately were inversely related to BP in multivariate-adjusted models. Estimated average systolic BP differences associated with two s.d. differences in raw vegetable intake (68 g per 1000 kcal) and cooked vegetable intake (92 g per 1000 kcal) were -1.9 mm Hg (95% confidence interval (CI): -3.1, -0.8; P=0.001) and -1.3 mm Hg (95% CI: -2.5, -0.2; P=0.03) without body mass index (BMI) in the full model; -1.3 mm Hg (95% CI: -2.4, -0.2; P=0.02) and -0.9 mm Hg (95% CI: -2.0, 0.2; P=0.1) with additional adjustment for BMI. Among commonly consumed individual raw vegetables, tomatoes, carrots, and scallions related significantly inversely to BP. Among commonly eaten cooked vegetables, tomatoes, peas, celery, and scallions related significantly inversely to BP.

Happiness and health behaviour in Iranian adolescent girls.

This study was conducted to examine the association of happiness in adolescent females with leisure time and health related behaviours namely diet, physical activity and first or second hand smoking. Using a self-administered questionnaire, data were collected from 8159 female high school students ages 11-19 years. Multivariate linear regression analysis revealed statistically significant associations between happiness and weight, regular exercise, exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke, daily fruit or vegetable consumption and the way participants spent their leisure time. Happiness was associated with lower BMI, regular physical activity, absence of exposure to second-hand smoke, higher consumption of fruits and vegetables, and spending leisure time with family (all P < 0.005). These exploratory findings suggest that encouraging children and adolescents to adopt healthy behaviours, providing family time and a smoke-free environment may make them not only healthier but also happier.