1 research outputs found
Association between intake of fruits and vegetables by pesticide residue status and coronary heart disease risk
Background: Fruit and vegetable (FV) intake is recommended for the prevention of coronary heart disease
(CHD). FVs are also an important source of exposure to pesticide residues. Whether the relations of FV intake
with CHD differ according to pesticide residue status is unknown.
Objective: To examine the associations of high- and low-pesticide-residue FVs with the risk of CHD.
Methods: We followed 145,789 women and 24,353 men free of cardiovascular disease and cancer (excluding
non-melanoma skin cancer) at baseline and participating in three ongoing prospective cohorts: the Nurses'
Health Study (NHS: 1998–2012), the NHS-II (1999–2013), and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (HPFS:
1998–2012). FV intake was assessed via food frequency questionnaires. We categorized FVs as having high- or
low-pesticide-residues using a validated method based on pesticide surveillance data from the US Department of
Agriculture. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate hazard ratios (HRs) and 95%
confidence intervals (95%CI) of CHD in relation to high- and low-pesticide-residue FV intake.
Results: A total of 3707 incident CHD events were identified during 2,241,977 person-years of follow-up. In
multivariable-adjusted models, a greater intake of low-pesticide-residue FVs was associated with a lower risk of
CHD whereas high-pesticide-residue FV intake was unrelated to CHD risk. Specifically, compared with individuals
consuming<1 serving/day of low-pesticide-residue FVs, those consuming ≥4 servings/day had 20%
(95CI: 4%, 33%) lower risk of CHD. The corresponding HR (comparing ≥4 servings/day to<1 serving/day) for
high-pesticide-residue FV intake and CHD was 0.97 (95%CI: 0.72, 1.30).
Conclusions: Our data suggested exposure to pesticide residues through FV intake may modify some cardiovascular
benefits of FV consumption. Further confirmation of these findings, especially using biomarkers for assessment of pesticide exposure, is neededThis work was supported by research grants [U01 HL145386, UM1
CA186107, R01 HL034594, UM1 CA176726, UM1 CA167552, R01
HL35464, P30DK046200, and P30ES000002] from the National
Institutes of Health (NIH). Dr. Bhupathiraju is supported by a Career
Development Grant from the NIH [K01 DK107804]. Dr. Ley was supported
by grant P20GM109036 from the National Institute of General
Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health