Quantity and variety in fruit and vegetable intake and risk of coronary heart disease.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Dietary guidelines recommend increasing fruit and vegetable intake and, most recently, have also suggested increasing variety.

Objective

We prospectively examined the independent roles of quantity and variety in fruit and vegetable intake in relation to incident coronary heart disease (CHD).

Design

We prospectively followed 71,141 women from the Nurses' Health Study (1984-2008) and 42,135 men from the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study (1986-2008) who were free of diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer at baseline. Diet was assessed by using a validated questionnaire and updated every 4 y. Variety was defined as the number of unique fruit and vegetables consumed at least once per week. Potatoes, legumes, and fruit juices were not included in our de

SUBMITTER: Bhupathiraju SN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3831537 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature