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Vegetable intake and long-term survival among middle-aged men in Italy
Fulvia Seccareccia1, Adalberta Alberti-Fidanza, Flaminio Fidanza
1Laboratory of Epidemiology e Biostatistics, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy. fulvia.seccareccia@iss.it
Purpose:
To examine prospectively the relationship between vegetable consumption and long-term survival.
Methods:
In 1965, a total of 1536 Italian males from two Italian rural cohorts of the Seven Countries Study, aged 45-65 years, were examined. Information on lifestyle and food consumption collected at this visit, and total and cause-specific mortality data collected in 30 years of follow-up were analyzed for the present study.
Results:
During a period of 30 years, 1096 deaths occurred (308 from coronary heart disease, 325 from cancer, 158 from cerebrovascular disease and 305 from all other causes). The age-adjusted life expectancy for men consuming more than 60 g/day of vegetables was nearly 2 years longer than for men consuming less than 20 g/day. This increase in survival was more striking in smokers than nonsmokers (2.1 vs. a 1 year gain). The association also held for both geographic cohorts, although the pattern of vegetable consumption was very different in the two villages.
Conclusions:
The results suggest a positive association between vegetable intake and life expectancy. Vegetable intake may be especially protective for smokers although the biological explanation for such an effect is unclear.