Dietary Acid Load Associated with Hypertension and Diabetes in the Elderly

Abstract

Background: Diet can affect the body's acid-base balance due to its content of acid or base precursors. There is conflicting evidence for the role of metabolic acidosis in the development of cardiometabolic disorders, hypertension (HT), and insulin resistance (IR).

Objective: We hypothesized that dietary acid load (DAL) is associated with adverse metabolic risk factors and aimed to investigate this in the elderly.

Methods: A total of 114 elderly participants were included in the study. The participants were divided into four groups, such as HT, diabetes (DM), both HT and DM, and healthy controls. Anthropometric, biochemical, and clinical findings were recorded. Potential renal acid load (PRAL) and net endogenous acid production (NEAP) results were obtained for three days, 24-hour dietary records via a nutrient database program (BeBiS software program).

Results: The groups were matched for age, gender, and BMI. There was a statistically significant difference between the groups regarding NEAP (p =0.01) and no significant difference for PRAL ( p = 0.086). The lowest NEAP and PRAL levels were seen in the control group while the highest in the HT group. Both NEAP and PRAL were correlated with waist circumference (r = 0,325, p = 0.001; r=0,231, p =0,016, respectively).

Conclusion: Our data confirmed that subjects with HT and DM had diets with greater acid-forming potential. High NEAP may be a risk factor for chronic metabolic diseases, particularly HT. PRAL could not be shown as a significantly different marker in all participants. Dietary content has a significant contribution to the reduction of cardiovascular risk factors, such as HT, DM, and obesity.

Keywords: Dietary acid load; diabetes; hypertension; insulin resistance; net endogenous acid production; potential renal acid load.