Association between the frequency of fruit and vegetable consumption and cardiovascular disease in male smokers and non-smokers.
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.
Dauchet
L
L
Institut Pasteur de Lille, INSERM, Université Lille Nord de France, Lille, France.
Montaye
M
M
Ruidavets
J-B
JB
Arveiler
D
D
Kee
F
F
Bingham
A
A
Ferrières
J
J
Haas
B
B
Evans
A
A
Ducimetière
P
P
Amouyel
P
P
Dallongeville
J
J
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