News Release

Middle-aged women who consume many fruits and vegetables are at much lower risk of cardiovascular disease

Peer-Reviewed Publication

American Journal of Clinical Nutrition

Significant reductions in cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk - by as much as one-half in some cases - can be achieved by consumption of a diet high in fruits and vegetables, according to a study published in the current issue of The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Liu et al. assessed a large group of middle-aged female health professionals for fruit and vegetable intake and subsequently followed them over a 5-year period for instances of CVD. They found that those women who consumed the largest amounts of fruits and vegetables (10 or more servings per day) attained a correspondingly greater reduction in disease risk. When the dietary analysis excluded women with a history of high risk conditions such as diabetes, hypertension and hypercholesterolemia, risk reduction was even more pronounced. Across all of the more elevated levels of fruit and vegetable consumption - anywhere from 4 to 10 servings per day - overall reduction in CVD risk was approximately 20-30%. An editorial accompanying the study suggests that plant foods may be beneficial in human disease not only because of the nutrients they contain, but because of inherent substances that help regulate plant metabolism.

The authors analyzed prospective data from the Women's Health Study of 39,876 middle-aged nurses with no previous history of CVD. In 1993 the participants completed a detailed food-frequency questionnaire and were subsequently followed for an average of 5 years for incidence of nonfatal myocardial infarction, stroke, coronary angioplasty, coronary bypass or death due to CVD. After the researchers divided the participants into groups or levels according to the number of daily servings of fruits and vegetables, a strong inverse association was evident between total fruit and vegetable intake and relative risk of CVD. Those who consumed 10 or more servings per day were at 32% lower risk of CVD than those who consumed one serving. The overall observed CVD risk in those women who ate 5-10 servings per day was 30% lower than for those who ate 2.5 servings per day. Smoking was the strongest confounding factor in consideration of relative risk, though risk reduction did persist to a lesser extent among smokers. Other additional risk factors such as overweight (BMI > 25), family history of an early MI, or the addition of red meat to the diet did not significantly alter the magnitude of risk reduction.

In an accompanying editorial, Jacobs and Murtaugh suggest that plant foods appear to prevent arteriosclerosis not just by substituting for dietary fat, but as beneficial substances in their own right, along with other foods such as fish and low-fat dairy products. They put forth the hypothesis that the benefits of plant food consumption go beyond the well-accepted micronutrients such as antioxidants, vitamins, minerals and phytoestrogens. The same plant enzymes, hormones and other substances that protect the plant against predators such as insects or fungus or attract insects or birds for pollination may help prevent disease in humans. The editorial suggests that more research attention should focus on plants as complex food packages and on overall patterns of food consumption rather than specific nutrient-disease interactions.

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Liu, Simin et al. Fruit and vegetable intake and risk of cardiovascular disease: the Women's Health Study. Am J Clin Nut 2000;72:922-28.

Jacobs, David R and Maureen A Murtaugh. It's more than an apple a day: an appropriately processed, plant-centered dietary pattern may be good for your health. Am J. Clin Nut 2000;72:899-900.

For more information please contact: Dr. Simin Liu at simin.liu@channing.harvard.edu or Dr. David R. Jacobs at jacobs@epi.umn.edu

This media release is provided by The American Society for Clinical Nutrition, to provide current information on nutrition-related research. This information should not be construed as medical advice. If you have a medical concern, consult your doctor.

To see the complete text of this article, please go to: http://www.faseb.org/ascn/temp/ajcn/October/922-928-11529-liu.pdf http://www.faseb.org/ascn/temp/ajcn/October/899-900-12013-jacobs.pdf


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