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Metabolism and Metabolic Studies
The strong association between blood pressure (BP) and BMI has been well documented in various populations including adults and children(1-5). It was reported that an increase of 1 sd in BMI was associated with 2·63-3·70 mmHg increment of systolic blood pressure (SBP) in children(1). Nowadays, along with the increasing trend of obesity worldwide(6), there is no surprise to see the rising prevalence of hypertension in adults and high BP in paediatric populations(7,8). This situation is particularly marked in children of the biggest developing country, China. The prevalence of obesity of 7-18-year-old children increased thirty-eight times from 1985 to 2010(9). Mirroring the obesity epidemic, the BP level among Chinese children has also increased substantially in recent years(10).
Previous studies have explored potential mechanisms linking adiposity and high BP, including sympathetic nervous system activation, activation of the renin-angiotensin system, inflammatory responses and insulin resistance(11). However, few studies explored the influence of an unfavourable blood lipid profile. Obese adolescents with moderate and high SFA intake presented higher plasminogen activator inhibitor-1, an independent predictor of BP(12), and reduction in SFA intake improves cardiovascular risks (mean BP and LDL-cholesterol decreased)(13). Genetic studies have shown a clear association between dyslipidaemia and hypertension(14), and the Physicians' Health Study, a prospective study with a mean follow-up of 14·1 years, showed that men with the highest quintile of total cholesterol (TC), TC:HDL-cholesterol ratio and non-HDL-cholesterol had significantly increased risks of developing hypertension of 23, 54 and 39 %, respectively, and men with the highest quintile of HDL-cholesterol had a 32 % decreased risk of developing hypertension, which implies that dyslipidaemia may contribute to the subsequent development of hypertension(15). Another prospective study in China aimed to investigate the risks of hypertension development in relation to the level of lipid variables among populations who had normal BP at baseline(16).The study showed that dyslipidaemia might occur before hypertension, and...