Thursday Aug 11, 2016 (foodconsumer.org) -- A survey study of 876 residents in a county in China indicates that dietary components or foods a person eat affects his blood pressure.  The study excluded participants who were not diagnosed with hypertension at baseline.

The study shows that salt and meat consumption were positively and linearly associated with both systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure while eating marine products was inversely associated with systolic blood pressure.

The study also shows that intake of mixed edible oil and edible oil was both associated with systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure, respectively.  (Unfortunately, this finding does not mean much when it comes to how exactly a type of edible oil affects the blood pressure).

Multivariate analysis of the data reveals that meat consumption was positively associated with both systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure whereas intake of marine products was inversely correlated with systolic blood pressure.  In the analysis, consumption of mixed edible oil was still linked to systolic blood pressure.

Recently, a study has indicated that a high salt plus high sugar diet can be risk factor for hypertension.   Another study suggests that eating buckwheat can offset the negative effect of salt on high blood pressure.  

X. Chen, S. Zou, X. Wu, H. Sun, B. Ma, B. Yang, W. Zhang, Jingpu Shi , Dietary features and blood pressure among 18–88-year-old residents in an island population in China, The journal of nutrition, health & aging, February 2016, Volume 20, Issue 2, pp 107-113 First online: 29 June 2015