Eating out increases the odds of high blood pressure. That’s the key finding of a new study by the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School Singapore linking meals eaten away from home and hypertension.

The reason: salt and calorie content in restaurant foods is often higher than home-cooked meals. In addition, it’s harder to track and modify sodium levels and calories in restaurant meals than those made at home.

Duke-NUS Professor Tazeen Jafar said the study is among the first to track links between dining out and high blood pressure.

"While there have been studies conducted in the United States and Japan to find behaviors associated with hypertension, very few have surveyed a Southeast Asian population," said Jafar.

"Our research plugs that gap and highlights lifestyle factors associated with pre-hypertension and hypertension that are potentially modifiable, and would be applicable to young adults globally, especially those of Asian descent."

For the study, Jafar and colleagues surveyed 501 college students in Singapore and collected information on their blood pressure, body mass index, lifestyle, meals eaten away from home, and physical activity levels,.

The results, published online in the American Journal of Hypertension, showed those who had high blood pressure were more likely to eat more meals away from home per week, have a higher  body mass index, lower physical activity levels, and be smokers.

High blood pressure is the leading risk factor for death associated with cardiovascular disease.