Dietary counseling on long-term weight loss in overweight hypertensive patients

OBJECTIVE This study aimed to evaluate long-term weight loss in overweight hypertensive patients receiving dietary counseling. METHODS Longitudinal study included overweight hypertensive patients who had an initial individual consultation with a nutritionist between January 2002 and December 2005 and were followed for four years in a hypertension clinic. Patients who had at least four consultations during the follow-up period were included in the dietary counseling group. Those who scheduled their first consultation but missed that appointment or had fewer than four consultations during the follow-up period were allocated to the control group. Target Energy intake was calculated at 20-25 kcal/kg actual body weight/day. RESULTS The study included 102 patients aged 55 ± 1 years old (58 in the dietary counseling group). As compared with the control group, patients in the dietary counseling group showed a significantly greater reduction in body weight (-3.6 ± 0.8 vs. 0.8 ± 0.7 kg), which remained significant after controlling for age, gender, baseline body mass index, and the use of different antihypertensive and antidiabetic drugs. Weight loss between 5.0% and 9.9% was observed in a significantly higher percentage of patients in the dietary counseling group (28% vs. 11%). A weight loss of at least 10% was only observed in dietary counseling group patients, who had a significantly lower odds ratio for increasing the number and/or dosage of antihypertensive agents, even after controlling for age, gender, and baseline body mass index. CONCLUSIONS Dietary counseling may be associated with long-term weight loss in overweight hypertensive patients.