title: Fruit and vegetable intake and mortality from cardiovascular disease are inversely associated in Japanese women but not in men.
abstract: Some epidemiological studies undertaken in Western countries have demonstrated that high intake of fruit and vegetables results in decreased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). The objective of this study was to examine the hypothesis that high intake of fruit and vegetables lowers CVD mortality in a population-based cohort of Japanese subjects. In 1992, fruit and vegetable intake was assessed in 13,355 men and 15,724 women in Takayama, Gifu, Japan using a validated FFQ. During the follow-up (1992-99), 200 men and 184 women died from CVD. For women, the highest quartile of vegetable intake compared with the lowest was marginally significant and inversely associated with CVD mortality after adjusting for total energy, age, and nondietary and dietary covariates [hazard ratio (HR) = 0.62; 95% CI, 0.36-1.08; P-trend = 0.007]. An inverse trend with borderline significance was also observed in fruit intake, excluding CVD deaths in the first 2 y of this study, after adjusting for the above-mentioned covariates (HR = 0.83; 95% CI, 0.51-1.34; P-trend = 0.10). In men, CVD death was not associated with fruit (HR = 1.16; 95% Cl, 0.77-1.74; P-trend = 0.61) and vegetable (HR = 0.81, 95% CI: 0.49-1.34; P-trend = 0.47) intake. These data suggest that higher intake of vegetables is associated with reduced risk of death from CVD for women.
authors.affiliation: Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Gifu University Graduate School of Medicine, Gifu 501-1194, Japan. kozuen@gifu-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Kozue
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakamura
authors.forename: Chisato
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Nagata
authors.forename: Shino
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Oba
authors.forename: Naoyoshi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Takatsuka
authors.forename: Hiroyuki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Shimizu
mesh_terms: D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000401:mortality*; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004034:Diet Surveys; D005260:Female; D005638:Fruit; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D014675:Vegetables