This study was carried out to investigate the relationships among the agriculturalworking days, nutrients intake and complications of hypertension in 266 male subjects in a ruralarea. The main findings are as follows.
1. Salt and carbohydrate intake and cereal energy level were higher in the farming group, who engaged in agricultural work for 300 days or over in a year, than in the non-faming group.
2. The hypertensive group with abnormal ECG or fundscopic findings showed a lower protein energy ratio, fat energy ratio and animal protein ratio than the non-hypertensive group with normal ECG and fundscopic findings.
3. The serum total cholesterol level of the farming group was lower than that of the non-farming group. The hypertensive group with abnormal ECG or fundscopic findings showed lower serum total cholesterol level than non-hypertensive group with normal ECG and fundscopic findings.
These results suggest that the complications of hypertension, such as abnormal ECG or funds-copic findings, are aggravated by the dietary habits of the farming group.