Background: Contrary to North America and Europe, the prevalence of hypertension is rising in West Africa. Although diet is implicated as a contributor to this trend, nutritional guidelines in West Africa are not tailored to address this concern. This study aimed to address this limitation by investigating dietary factors common to West Africa and evaluating their association with hypertension. Methods: PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Medline were searched to identify studies that investigated diet and hypertension in West African adults. All meta-analyses used a generic inverse-variance random effects model, with subgroup analyses by age, BMI, and study location, and were performed in R. Results: Three thousand, two hundred ninety-eight studies were identified, of which 31 (n = 48 809 participants) satisfied inclusion criteria – all cross-sectional. Meta-analyses of the association between dietary factors and hypertension included dietary fat [odds ratio (OR) = 1.76; 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 1.44–2.14; P < 0.0001], red meat (OR = 1.51; 95% CI: 1.04–2.18; P = 0.03), junk-food (OR = 1.41; 95% CI: 1.19–1.67; P < 0.0001), dietary salt (OR = 1.25; 95% CI: 1.12–1.40; P < 0.0001), alcohol (OR = 1.17; 95% CI: 1.03–1.32; P = 0.013), and ‘fruits and vegetables’ (OR = 0.80; 95% CI: 0.24–1.17; P < 0.0001). Subgroup analyses suggested that ‘fruit and vegetable’ consumption is less protective in the elderly. Conclusion: High consumption of dietary salt, red meat, dietary fat, junk food, and alcohol are associated with increased odds of hypertension, whereas high fruit and vegetable appear protective. This region-specific evidence will support the development of nutritional assessment tools for clinicians, patients, and researchers aiming to reduce hypertension in West Africa.

Background: The use of herbal medications has been implicated to cause renal toxicity and failure. Terminalia catappa has been used in ancient tradition in the treatment several diseases. This study aimed to determine the dose and time related effects of the hydroalcoholic extract of Terminalia catappa on the renal functions of Wister rats following long time period of administration.Methods: Forty female Wister rats were used as experimental animals and equally divided into 5 groups. The hydroalcoholic extract of Terminalia catappa were administered on the experimental animals for 42 days. Three groups were treated orally with three different doses of Terminalia catappa hydroalcoholic extract; 0.5g/kg, 1.0g/kg and 3.0g/kg respectively while another two groups as control. Signs of toxicity in the experimental rats were determined by the number of death, nutritional behaviour and physiological characteristics of the animal by observation while blood sample was collected for the determination of renal functions parameters.Results: No death was recorded in all test groups during the period of the study. The nutritional behaviour of the rats was not affected and no abnormalities in the physiological characteristic of the rats were detected. The renal functions parameters (Na+, K+, Cl-, HCO3-, Urea, Uric acid and Creatinine) were not significantly (p>0.05) altered.Conclusions: Based on the results, it can be concluded that there were no nephrotoxic effects of hydroalcoholic extract of Terminalia catappa on Wister rats and therefore it can be said to have a wide margin of safety for use and consumption.

Background: Contrary to North America and Europe, the prevalence of hypertension is rising in West Africa. Although diet is implicated as a contributor to this trend, nutritional guidelines in West Africa are not tailored to address this concern. This study aimed to address this limitation by investigating dietary factors common to West Africa and evaluating their association with hypertension. Methods: PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Medline were searched to identify studies that investigated diet and hypertension in West African adults. All meta-analyses used a generic inverse-variance random effects model, with subgroup analyses by age, BMI, and study location, and were performed in R. Results: 3298 studies were identified, of which 31 (n=48,809 participants) satisfied inclusion criteria - all cross-sectional. Meta-analyses of the association between dietary factors and hypertension included: dietary fat (OR=1.76; 95% CI:1.44,2.14; p<0.0001), red meat (OR=1.51; 95% CI: 1.04, 2.18; p = 0.03), junk-food (OR=1.41; 95% CI: 1.19, 1.67; p < 0.0001), dietary salt (OR= 1.25; 95% CI: 1.12, 1.40; p<0.0001), alcohol (OR= 1.17; 95% CI: 1.03, 1.32; p= 0.013), and fruits and vegetables (OR=0.80; 95% CI: 0.24, 1.17; p < 0.0001). Subgroup analyses suggested that fruit and vegetable consumption is less protective in the elderly. Conclusion: High consumption of dietary salt, red meat, dietary fat, junk food, and alcohol are associated with increased odds of hypertension, whereas high fruit and vegetable appear protective. This region-specific evidence will support the development of nutritional assessment tools for clinicians, patients, and researchers aiming to reduce hypertension in West Africa.