Dietary Patterns and Hypertension Risk among Adults in Sunyani Municipality, Ghana

Hypertension continues to be a growing public health problem in Ghana, contributing significantly to the burden of cardiovascular disease and premature mortality. The 2023 Ghana STEPS Report shows that major behavioural risk factors for non-communicable diseases include unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, tobacco use, alcohol consumption, and salt intake (Ghana Ministry of Health et al., 2023). Similarly, Boakye et al. (2023) observed that non-communicable diseases in Ghana are strongly associated with modifiable lifestyle factors such as poor diet, obesity, physical inactivity, alcohol intake, and tobacco use. Despite the availability of national data on hypertension and NCD risk factors, municipality-level evidence on how dietary patterns influence hypertension risk remains limited. In Sunyani Municipality, adults may be increasingly exposed to processed foods, high-salt meals, and reduced intake of fruits and vegetables due to urbanisation and lifestyle changes. This creates a public health gap because interventions that are not based on local dietary practices may be ineffective. Therefore, this study is necessary to generate evidence that can guide nutrition education, lifestyle modification programmes, and community-based hypertension prevention strategies.