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Fruit and vegetable consumption and stroke : meta-analysis of cohort studies

journal contribution
posted on 2006-01-28, 00:00 authored by F He, Caryl NowsonCaryl Nowson, G MacGregor
Background
Increased consumption of fruit and vegetables has been shown to be associated with a reduced risk of stroke in most epidemiological studies, although the extent of the association is uncertain. We quantitatively assessed the relation between fruit and vegetable intake and incidence of stroke in a meta-analysis of cohort studies.

Methods

We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, and bibliographies of retrieved articles. Studies were included if they reported relative risks and corresponding 95% CIs of stroke with respect to frequency of fruit and vegetable intake.

Findings
Eight studies, consisting of nine independent cohorts, met the inclusion criteria. These groups included 257 551 individuals (4917 stroke events) with an average follow-up of 13 years. Compared with individuals who had less than three servings of fruit and vegetables per day, the pooled relative risk of stroke was 0·89 (95% CI 0·83–0·97) for those with three to five servings per day, and 0·74 (0·69–0·79) for those with more than five servings per day. Subgroup analyses showed that fruit and vegetables had a significant protective effect on both ischaemic and haemorrhagic stroke.

Interpretation
Increased fruit and vegetable intake in the range commonly consumed is associated with a reduced risk of stroke. Our results provide strong support for the recommendations to consume more than five servings of fruit and vegetables per day, which is likely to cause a major reduction in strokes.


History

Journal

Lancet

Volume

367

Issue

9507

Pagination

320 - 326

Publisher

Elsevier

Location

New York, NY.

ISSN

0140-6736

eISSN

1474-547X

Language

eng

Publication classification

C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal

Copyright notice

2006, Elsevier