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2021 Abstracts

Systolic/Diastolic Blood Pressure is Modulated by Essential Fatty Acid Consumption

Presenters: Sara Williams, Jerry & Vickie Moyes College of Education, Exercise and Nutrition Sciences
Authors: Sara Williams, Joelle Caruso, David Aguilar-Alvarez
Faculty Advisor: David Aguilar-Alvarez, Jerry and Vickie Moyes College of Education, Exercise and Nutrition Sciences
Institution: Weber State University

Systolic/Diastolic Blood Pressure is Modulated by Essential Fatty Acid Consumptions Linoleic and alpha-linolenic fatty acids are essential and important for individuals to include into their daily diets. Adequate consumption of these fatty acids are associated with multiple health benefits including improved vascular function. Purpose/Hypothesis We investigated the relationship between consumption of essential fatty acids (EFA) and blood pressure among Weber State students. We hypothesized that increased consumption of EFA’s (linoleic 18.2 and alpha-linolenic 18.3) will be linked to lower blood pressure. Research Methods Blood pressure was measured with an automated blood pressure cuff and two-day diet records that were analyzed from 385 Weber State students, ages 18 to 65 (Male: 128; Female: 257). Grams as well as percentages of recommendation consumed linoleic and alpha-linolenic EFA’s were calculated from the diet record using Diet and Wellness Plus software. Pearson partial correlations controlling for total calories and vegetable consumption was used for determining associations between blood pressure and EFA consumption. IBM SPSS statistics 25 software was used for the statistical analysis. Data Results We observed a negative association between EFA and blood pressure. Increased consumption of linoleic and alpha-linolenic EFA’s were linked to decreases in Systolic, (R= -.202, P=.005), (R= -.208, P= .004) and Diastolic (R= -.182, P= .011), (R= -.181, P=.012) blood pressure. Conclusions Our results are in accordance with previous studies, showing that consumption of linoleic and alpha-linolenic EFA’s improves vasodilation, decrease inflammation and stiffness of arteries resulting in better blood pressure and vascular function markers. This shows the importance of EFA’s consumption in decreasing blood pressure even in a younger population as it was conducted in college-aged individuals.