Received May 9, 2008
Accepted on September 30, 2008

CLINICAL EPIDEMIOLOGY

Fructose and Vitamin C Intake Do Not Influence Risk for Developing Hypertension

John P. Forman ^*1, Hyon Choi ^*, and Gary C. Curhan ^*||

*Channing Laboratory and Renal Division, Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, and ||Department of Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts; and Division of Rheumatology, Vancouver General Hospital, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

¹ To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: jforman{at}partners.org.

	Abstract

Higher uric acid levels are associated with an increased risk for developing hypertension. Higher intake of fructose increases plasma uric acid levels and higher intake of vitamin C reduces uric acid levels, but whether these nutrients are independently associated with the risk for developing hypertension is unknown. We studied this question by analyzing data from participants of three large and independent prospective cohorts: Nurses’ Health Study 1 (n = 88,540), Nurses’ Health Study 2 (n = 97,315), and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (n = 37,375). Relative risks and 95% confidence intervals for incident hypertension were computed according to quintiles of fructose intake and categories of vitamin C intake using multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression. Fructose intake was not associated with the risk for developing hypertension; the multivariable relative risks (95% confidence intervals) for the highest compared with the lowest quintile of fructose intake were 1.02 (0.99 to 1.06) in Nurses’ Health Study 1, 1.03 (0.98 to 1.08) in Nurses’ Health Study 2, and 0.99 (0.93 to 1.05) in Heath Professionals Follow-up Study. Regarding vitamin C, the relative risks for individuals who consumed 1500 mg/d compared with those who consumed <250 mg/d were 0.89 (0.83 to 0.96) in Nurses’ Health Study 1, 1.02 (0.91 to 1.14) in Nurses’ Health Study 2, and 1.06 (0.97 to 1.15) in Health Professionals Follow-up Study. In conclusion, fructose and vitamin C intake do not substantially influence the risk for developing hypertension.