title: Association between the frequency of fruit and vegetable consumption and cardiovascular disease in male smokers and non-smokers.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Consumption of fruit and vegetables (F&V) is associated with a lower cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. Smoking may affect the strength of this association. The objective of this study was to compare the relationship between the frequency of F&V intake and CVD risk in male current, former and never smokers.
  
  
  METHODS
  A prospective study in men (n=8060) aged 50-59 years who were recruited in France and Northern Ireland. The frequency of F&V intake was assessed by using a food frequency questionnaire. The outcome criteria were incident cases of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and total CVD (coronary heart disease and stroke) over 10-year period.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 367 ACS and 612 CVD events occurred during the follow-up period. A multivariate analysis revealed a statistically significant interaction between smoking status and F&V intake for ACS and for CVD (both P's<0.05). In current smokers, the relative risks for ACS were 0.78 (0.54-1.13) and 0.49 (0.30-0.81) in the second and third tertiles of F&V intake, respectively (P for trend<0.001); for CVD, the values were 0.80 (0.59-1.08) and 0.64 (0.44-0.93) respectively (P for trend<0.001). In contrast, no statistically significant associations were observed for never and former smokers. Similar statistical interactions for ACS were observed for fruit intake (P=0.07) and vegetable intake (P<0.05) taken separately.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results suggest that high fruit and vegetable intake is associated with a lower risk of CVD in male smokers.
authors.affiliation: Institut Pasteur de Lille, INSERM, Université Lille Nord de France, Lille, France.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Dauchet
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Montaye
authors.forename: J-B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Ruidavets
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Arveiler
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kee
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bingham
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ferrières
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Haas
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Evans
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ducimetière
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Amouyel
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dallongeville
mesh_terms: D054058:Acute Coronary Syndrome / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000453:epidemiology*; D004032:Diet; D004034:Diet Surveys; D005602:France / Q000453:epidemiology; D005638:Fruit; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009660:Northern Ireland / Q000453:epidemiology; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012307:Risk Factors; D012907:Smoking; D020521:Stroke / Q000453:epidemiology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014675:Vegetables