Recent studies investigated the relation between amino acids and blood pressure. Our aim was to examine the association between intake of aromatic amino acids (AAAs) and risk of hypertension. A total of 4288 individuals, aged 20-70 years, participants of the Tehran Lipid and Glucose Study, who were free of hypertension at baseline (2008-2011), were followed for 3 years (2011-2014). Average intakes of AAAs including phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan were collected using a valid and reliable food frequency questionnaire at baseline. Adjusted logistic regression models were used to report odds ratio (OR) of hypertension across quartiles of AAAs. At the end of follow-up, 429 (10%) hypertension cases were ascertained. The adjusted OR of hypertension for percentage of AAAs from total protein intakes was 1.63 (95% confidence interval, 1.06-2.50; P for trend: .03) when comparing the highest quartile to the lowest. Furthermore, in the adjusted analyses, a statistically significant positive relationship was observed between the highest versus the lowest quartile intake of phenylalanine (OR = 1.66; 95% confidence interval, 1.14-2.47; P for trend: .03). However, there was no significant association of tyrosine and tryptophan intakes with hypertension risk. Our data suggest that AAAs may increase the risk of incident hypertension.
Keywords: Hypertension; phenylalanine; tryptophan; tyrosine.
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