Association of dietary elements and lower urinary tract symptoms

The purpose of the study was to establish whether dietary elements are related to lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) and thus to diseases causing LUTS.

This population-based study was carried out in 1994; a questionnaire was mailed to all men born in 1924, 1934 or 1944 living in Tampere or 11 rural or semi-rural municipalities in the same county, altogether 3143 men. Of this population, 68% were ultimately included in the study. A modified version of the DAN-PSS-1 questionnaire (10 of the questions) was used to assess urinary symptoms and problems arising from them. A symptom index was formed by multiplying the symptom and problem scores for hesitancy, incomplete emptying, urge, urge incontinence, nocturia and daytime frequency, and totalling the products. The men were also asked to report on their medical history, how often they ate vegetables and meat, whether they used butter, margarine or vegetable oil in food, how much alcohol and coffee they consumed, their smoking history and their weight and height. The risk of LUTS was estimated according to the frequency of meat and vegetable intake and the kind of fat used.

The confounder-adjusted risk of LUTS was 0.68 (95% CI 0.54-0.86) among men consuming vegetables daily compared with men consuming vegetables less frequently. Compared with men who eat meat less frequently, the confounder-adjusted risk of LUTS was 2.08 (95% CI 1.00-4.10) among men consuming meat weekly, and 2.56 (95% CI 1.30-5.02) among men consuming meat daily. The confounder-adjusted risk of LUTS was 0.73 (95% CI 0.58-0.93) among men who consumed butter compared to those who did not.

Dietary elements may also have an important role in the development of diseases causing LUTS. Direct effects of food components may likewise influence the occurrence of LUTS.