Vegetable intake and long-term survival among middle-aged men in Italy.
OBJECTIVE
To examine prospectively the relationship between vegetable consumption and long-term survival.


METHODS
In 1965, a total of 1536 Italian males from two Italian rural cohorts of the Seven Countries Study, aged 45-65 years, were examined. Information on lifestyle and food consumption collected at this visit, and total and cause-specific mortality data collected in 30 years of follow-up were analyzed for the present study.


RESULTS
During a period of 30 years, 1096 deaths occurred (308 from coronary heart disease, 325 from cancer, 158 from cerebrovascular disease and 305 from all other causes). The age-adjusted life expectancy for men consuming more than 60 g/day of vegetables was nearly 2 years longer than for men consuming less than 20 g/day. This increase in survival was more striking in smokers than nonsmokers (2.1 vs. a 1 year gain). The association also held for both geographic cohorts, although the pattern of vegetable consumption was very different in the two villages.


CONCLUSIONS
The results suggest a positive association between vegetable intake and life expectancy. Vegetable intake may be especially protective for smokers although the biological explanation for such an effect is unclear.
Seccareccia
Fulvia
F
Laboratory of Epidemiology e Biostatistics, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy. fulvia.seccareccia@iss.it
Alberti-Fidanza
Adalberta
A
Fidanza
Flaminio
F
Farchi
Gino
G
Freeman
Karen M
KM
Mariotti
Sergio
S
Menotti
Alessandro
A
D000368:Aged; D002423:Cause of Death; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004034:Diet Surveys; D017408:Guidelines as Topic; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008136:Longevity; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012907:Smoking; D016019:Survival Analysis; D014675:Vegetables