Fruit and Vegetable Consumption and Risk of Cholecystectomy in Women

Tsai, Chung-Jyi; Leitzmann, Michael F.; Willett, Walter C.; Giovannucci, Edward L.

doi:10.1016/j.amjmed.2006.02.040

« Previous Next »The American Journal of Medicine
Volume 119, Issue 9 , Pages 760-767, September 2006

Fruit and Vegetable Consumption and Risk of Cholecystectomy in Women

Chung-Jyi Tsai, MD, ScD
- Division of Digestive Diseases and Nutrition, University of Kentucky Medical Center, Lexington
- Channing Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, Mass
- Address correspondence to Chung-Jyi Tsai, MD, ScD, Division of Digestive Diseases and Nutrition, University of Kentucky Medical Center, 800 Rose Street, Lexington, KY 40536-0298.
Michael F. Leitzmann, MD, DrPH
- Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, Md
Walter C. Willett, MD, DrPH
- Channing Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, Mass
- Departments of Nutrition and Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Mass.
Edward L. Giovannucci, MD, ScD
- Channing Laboratory, Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, Mass
- Departments of Nutrition and Epidemiology, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Mass.

Abstract

Purpose

Many constituents of fruits and vegetables may reduce the risk for gallstones, but prospective data relating fruit and vegetable intake to gallstone disease are sparse.

Methods

We prospectively studied fruit and vegetable consumption in relation to the risk of cholecystectomy in a cohort of 77,090 women in the Nurses’ Health Study, 37 to 64 years of age, who had no history of gallstone disease. Women reported on follow-up questionnaires both their consumption of fruits and vegetables and whether they had undergone cholecystectomy.

Results

During 1,060,033 person-years of follow-up from 1984 to 2000, participants reported 6608 cases of cholecystectomy. After adjusting for established or suspected risk factors, the relative risk for women in the highest quintile of overall consumption of fruits and vegetables was 0.79 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.73-0.87, P for trend<.0001) compared with those in the lowest quintile. Similar results were seen for both total fruits and total vegetables separately. The composite items of fruits and vegetables including green leafy vegetables, citrus fruits, vitamin C-rich fruits and vegetables, and cruciferous vegetables also were each inversely associated with the risk.