Healthy Eating and Risks of Total and Cause-Specific Death among Low-Income Populations of African-Americans and Other Adults in the Southeastern United States: A Prospective Cohort Study.

ABSTRACT:

Background

A healthy diet, as defined by the US Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA), has been associated with lower morbidity and mortality from major chronic diseases in studies conducted in predominantly non-Hispanic white individuals. It is unknown whether this association can be extrapolated to African-Americans and low-income populations.

Methods and findings

We examined the associations of adherence to the DGA with total and cause-specific mortality in the Southern Community Cohort Study, a prospective study that recruited 84,735 American adults, aged 40-79 y, from 12 southeastern US states during 2002-2009, mostly through community health centers that serve low-income populations. The present analysis included 50,434 African-Americans, 24,054 white individuals, and

SUBMITTER: Yu D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4444091 | biostudies-literature | 2015 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature