Evaluation of consumption of food and predictors of cardiovascular risk in hypertensive protectors of the State of Alagoas, Brazil.

The present article aimed to evaluate the consumption of protective foods and predictors of cardiovascular (CV) risk and its relationship with cardiovascular risk factors (CVRF) by hypertensive individuals in the state of Alagoas. A population-based cross-sectional study was carried out from 2013 to 2016 with 655 hypertensive adults of both sexes. Food consumption was assessed by a validated food frequency questionnaire with measurements converted to scores and the foods were divided into three groups: I - processed foods/CV risk predictors; II - ultraprocessed foods/higher CV risk predictors; III - in natura or minimally processed foods/ CV risk protectors. Socioeconomic, demographic, biochemical, clinical and anthropometric variables were also analyzed. The consumption scores of food groups I, II and III were, respectively, 0.11; 0.13 and 0.24 (p = 0.001). The consumption of processed foods was correlated positively with high blood cholesterol (p = 0.045) and negatively with age (p = 0.001); while that of ultraprocessed foods was correlated with the sedentary lifestyle (p = 0.01). Thus, it was observed a relationship between the consumption of CV risk predictors foods with high blood cholesterol and sedentary lifestyle, reflecting the need for nutricional education actions.