In an editorial accompanying the
study, Nita Forouhi, a researcher at the
epidemiology unit of the University of Cambridge, said that the
Chinese study has a number of strengths but that the dietary survey contained only «crudely measured» categories (red meat, fresh vegetables, fresh fruits) so it was unable to take into account other dietary habits that might have impacted the results, and that the quantity and strength of the chili consumed was also unknown.
The participants in the
study were 1,906 Han
Chinese adults in the GenSalt project (Genetic
Epidemiology Network of Salt Sensitivity), a large project to identify environmental and genetic factors leading to salt sensitivity.