Consumption of fruits and vegetables in relation to the risk of developing acute coronary syndromes; the CARDIO2000 case-control study

Abstract

Abstract Background The relation between diet and human health has long been investigated. The aim of this work is to evaluate the association between CHD risk and the consumption of fruit and vegetable, in a large sample of cardiac patients and controls. Methods Stratified sampling from all Greek regions, consisted of 848 (700 males, 58 ± 10 years old and 148 females, 65 ± 9 years old) randomly selected patients, admitted to the cardiology clinic for a first event of an acute coronary syndrome (ACS). In addition we selected 1078 frequency paired, by sex-age-region, controls in the same hospitals but without any clinical suspicion of CHD. Using validated food-frequency questionnaires we assessed total diet, including fruit and vegetable intake, on a weekly basis. Multiple logistic regression analysis estimated the relative risk of developing ACS by level of fruits and vegetables intake after taking into account the effect of several potential confounders. Results Data analysis revealed that the benefit of fruit or vegetable consumption increases proportionally by the number of servings consumed (P for trend Conclusions Consumption of fruits and vegetables seems to offer significant protection against CHD.