Dietary Glycine and Incidence of Hypertension: Tehran Lipid and Glucose Study

Hypertension is one of the main risk factors of cardiovascular diseases, and recent studies have been investigating the association of dietary amino acids with blood pressure. This study aimed to determine the association of dietary glycine with blood pressure.
For the present study, conducted on 2612 participants, aged 35-70 years, who had participated in the fourth phase of the Tehran Lipid and Glucose Study (2008-2011) were followed up to the fifth phase (2011-2014). At baseline, participants, who were free of hypertension, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer and had complete documented anthropometric, clinical and dietary data entered the study. Dietary glycine information was collected, using a valid and reliable food frequency questionnaire. Incidence of hypertesion was ascertained after three years of follow up, using logistic regression to assess the associations between incidence of hypertension and tertiles of glycine intake, adjusted for potential confounders.
The mean±SD age of participants (42.1% men) was 47.1±8.3 years. During 3 years of follow-up, 365 cases (14%) of hypertension developed. The OR of the highest tertile of glycine intake was 0.69 (95% CI: 0.49-0.96; P for trend: 0.04), compared to the lowest, after adjusting for potential confounders.
Our results indicate an inverse association between higher glycine intake and incidence of hypertension.