Diet and Risk for Incident Diverticulitis in Women : A Prospective Cohort Study

Patients with diverticulitis often attempt to control their diet with a particular focus on avoiding nuts and seeds. However, whether dietary patterns or dietary intake of nuts and seeds are associated with diverticulitis risk is poorly studied, particularly in women.

To determine whether select diets affect incident diverticulitis risk in women.

Prospective cohort study.

Cohort study in the United States and Puerto Rico.

Women aged 35 to 74 years at enrollment who responded to food frequency and diverticulitis questionnaires and had no history of inflammatory bowel disease, cancer, or diverticulitis (n = 29 916).

Food frequency questionnaires were used to calculate dietary index scores and to assess intake of nuts, seeds, and corn.

Cox proportional hazards regression was used to estimate adjusted hazard ratios (aHRs) and 95% CIs for the associations between each dietary component or dietary index and diverticulitis risk.

1531 cases of incident diverticulitis for 415 103 person-years of follow-up were identified. Intake of peanuts, nuts, and seeds (aHR,1.07 [95% CI, 0.91 to 1.25]) and fresh fruits with edible seeds (aHR,1.06 [CI, 0.90 to 1.24]) was not associated with incident diverticulitis. There was a reduced risk for incident diverticulitis in women in the highest quartile of healthy diets compared with the lowest quartile: the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension diet (aHR, 0.77 [CI, 0.65 to 0.90]), the Healthy Eating Index (aHR, 0.78 [CI, 0.66 to 0.91]), the Alternative Healthy Eating Index (aHR, 0.81 [CI, 0.69 to 0.95]), and the Alternative Mediterranean diet (aHR, 0.91 [CI, 0.78 to 1.06]).

Confounding, selection bias, and measurement bias are possible.

Healthy diets were associated with a reduced risk for incident diverticulitis in women. Consumption of nuts and seeds was not associated with diverticulitis risk.

National Institutes of Health.