High intake of various fruits, vegetables lowers cardiometabolic risk factors in older adults

Consumption of a greater variety and quantity of fruits and vegetables (FV) can substantially reduce several cardiometabolic risk factors among older adults at high cardiovascular risk, suggests a study.

A team of investigators performed a longitudinal analysis of 6,647 PREDIMED-plus study participants (48 percent women), collecting all pertinent data at baseline, 6 months, and 1-year follow-up. They estimated the variety and quantity of FV using a food frequency questionnaire and created continuous scores for variety based on items/month of FV.

Finally, the associations between 1-year changes in FV variety and/or quantity and concurrent changes in cardiometabolic risk factors were assessed using linear mixed models adjusted for potential confounders.

An increase of 2 points in the FV variety score over 1 year significantly correlated with a reduction in glucose (‒0.33 mg/dL, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 0.58 to ‒0.07), body weight (‒0.07 kg, 95 percent CI, ‒0.13 to ‒0.02), and waist circumference (WC; ‒0.08 cm, 95 percent CI, ‒0.16 to ‒10.01).

A 100-g/d increment in FV over 1 year, on one hand, resulted in a concurrent decrease in triglycerides (‒0.50 mg/dL, 95 percent CI, ‒0.93 to ‒0.08), glucose (‒0.21 mg/dL, 95 percent CI, ‒0.32 to ‒0.11), body weight (‒0.11 kg, 95 percent CI, ‒0.15 to ‒0.07), and WC (‒0.10 cm, 95 percent CI, ‒0.14 to ‒0.06).

Furthermore, changes in FV intake leading to higher quantity and variety over 1 year led to downward changes in glucose (‒1.26 mg/dL, 95 percent CI, ‒2.09 to ‒0.43), body weight (‒0.40 kg, 95 percent CI, ‒0.58 to ‒0.23), and WC (‒0.50 cm, 95 percent CI, ‒0.73 to ‒0.28).

“Previous studies have shown beneficial associations between FV consumption and cardiometabolic risk factors,” the investigators noted.