Current intake levels of potatoes and all-cause mortality in China: A population-based nationwide study

A prospective cohort study of starchy and non-starchy vegetable intake and mortality risk

Whether starchy and non-starchy vegetables have distinct impacts on health remains unknown. We prospectively investigated the intake of starchy and non-starchy vegetables in relation to mortality risk in a nationwide cohort. Diet was assessed using 24-h dietary recalls. Deaths were identified via the record linkage to the National Death Index. Hazard ratios (HR) and 95 % CI were calculated using Cox regression. During a median follow-up of 7·8 years, 4904 deaths were documented among 40 074 participants aged 18 years or older. Compared to those with no consumption, participants with daily consumption of ≥ 1 serving of non-starchy vegetables had a lower risk of mortality (HR = 0·76, 95 % CI 0·66, 0·88, P_trend = 0·001). Dark-green and deep-yellow vegetables (HR = 0·79, 95 % CI 0·63, 0·99, P_trend = 0·023) and other non-starchy vegetables (HR = 0·80, 95 % CI 0·70, 0·92, P_trend = 0·004) showed similar results. Total starchy vegetable intake exhibited a marginally weak inverse association with mortality risk (HR = 0·89, 95 % CI 0·80, 1·00, P_trend = 0·048), while potatoes showed a null association (HR = 0·93, 95 % CI 0·82, 1·06, P_trend = 0·186). Restricted cubic spline analysis suggested a linear dose-response relationship between vegetable intake and death risk, with a plateau at over 300 and 200 g/d for total and non-starchy vegetables, respectively. Compared with starchy vegetables, non-starchy vegetables might be more beneficial to health, although both showed a protective association with mortality risk. The risk reduction in mortality plateaued at approximately 200 g/d for non-starchy vegetables and 300 g/d for total vegetables.

Development of an EAT-Lancet index and its relation to mortality in a Swedish population

BACKGROUND

Current global food systems threaten human health and environmental sustainability. In 2019, the EAT-Lancet Commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems defined the first global reference diet to improve both areas, but there is no consensus on how to quantify the EAT-Lancet reference diet as a diet index, and its relation to mortality has not been widely studied.

OBJECTIVES

We sought to develop a new dietary index to quantify adherence to the EAT-Lancet diet and assess its association with mortality in a large, population-based Swedish cohort. We also examined food components included in the index and their individual associations with mortality.

METHODS

We used the Malmö Diet and Cancer cohort (n = 22,421; 45-73 years old at baseline). Dietary data were collected using a modified diet history method. The EAT-Lancet index was developed based on intake levels and reference intervals of 14 food components defined in the EAT-Lancet diet (0-3 points per component; 0-42 points in total). Associations with mortality were examined based on registers during a mean of 20 years of follow-up and were adjusted for potential confounders.

RESULTS

Divided into 5 adherence groups, the highest adherence to the EAT-Lancet diet (≥23 points) was associated with lower all-cause mortality (HR, 0.75; 95% CI, 0.67-0.85), cancer mortality (HR, 0.76; 95% CI, 0.63-0.92), and cardiovascular mortality (HR, 0.68; 95% CI, 0.54-0.84) than the lowest adherence (≤13 points). Several food components included in the index contributed to the observed reductions in mortality.

CONCLUSIONS

We developed a new dietary index to investigate adherence to the EAT-Lancet diet. The findings indicate a 25% lower risk of mortality among those with the highest adherence to the EAT-Lancet diet, as defined using our index, which adds to the evidence base for the development of sustainable dietary guidelines.

Frequency of Boiled Potato Consumption and All-Cause and Cardiovascular Disease Mortality in the Prospective Population-Based HUNT Study

Few studies have assessed the association between potato consumption and mortality, especially cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality. Our objective was to investigate the association between consumption of boiled potatoes and all-cause and CVD mortality in a Norwegian population. We used data from the population based HUNT3 study in Norway, with data on boiled potato consumption frequency in 2006–2008 from 49,926 males and females aged 20 years or above. All-cause and CVD mortality were identified during 10 years follow-up through the national Cause of Death Registry, which is virtually complete. We used Cox regression to estimate hazard ratio (HR) with a 95% confidence interval (CI) for death controlling for potential confounders, and conducted additional analyses stratified by sex, body mass index (BMI) ±25 kg/m², and age ±65 years. There were 4,084 deaths and 1,284 of these were due to CVD. Frequency of boiled potato consumption was not associated with all-cause mortality, nor with CVD mortality. Compared to those individuals who consumed boiled potatoes less than once weekly, those who reported to consume boiled potatoes 1–3 times per week had an adjusted HR (95% CI) of 1.12 (0.89, 1.41) for all-cause mortality and 1.20 (0.78, 1.86) for CVD mortality. Individuals who consumed boiled potatoes 4–6 times per week had HRs of 0.97 (0.78, 1.21) and 1.03 (0.68, 1.55), for all-cause and CVD mortality, respectively, whereas those who consumed boiled potatoes more than once daily had HRs of 1.04 (0.83, 1.29) and 1.09 (0.73, 1.63) for all-cause and CVD mortality, respectively. There was no evidence of differential associations for males vs. females, nor between people with BMI ± 25 kg/m². The associations between frequency of boiled potato consumption and all-cause mortality showed different patterns between those younger vs. older than 65 years, with a tendency of increased risk only in the oldest age group. In conclusion, frequency of consumption of boiled potatoes was not associated with all-cause or CVD mortality in the HUNT population in Norway.

Potato Preload Mitigated Postprandial Glycemic Excursion in Healthy Subjects: An Acute Randomized Trial

This study investigated the preload effect of the medium and high glycemic index (GI) potato, as well as the combination of partially hydrolyzed guar gum (HG) and potato, when ingested prior to a rice meal, on the iso-carbohydrate basis. In a randomized crossover trial, 17 healthy female subjects consumed (1) rice; (2) co-ingestion of highly cooked potato (HP), and rice (HP + R); (3) co-ingestion of minimally cooked potato (MP) and rice (MP + R); (4) preload HP prior to rice meal (PHP + R); (5) preload MP prior to rice meal (PMP + R); (6) co-ingestion of partially hydrolyzed guar gum (HG), HP and rice (HG + HP + R); (7) preload HG prior to co-ingestion of HP and rice (PHG + HP + R); (8) co-preload of HG and HP prior to rice (PHG + PHP + R); and (9) preload of HP prior to co-ingestion of HG and rice (PHP + HG + R). Postprandial glycemic response (GR) tests and subjective satiety tests were conducted for each test food. Cooked potato as a preload to a rice meal could significantly cut the acute postprandial glycemic excursion by around 1.0 mmol/L, irrespective of the GI of the preload. Co-preload of partial hydrolyzed guar gum and highly cooked potato (PHG + PHP + R) resulted in improved acute GR in terms of peak glucose value and glycemic excursion compared with either HG preload or HP preload. All the meals with preload showed comparable or improved self-reported satiety. Within an equicarbohydrate exchange framework, both high-GI and medium-GI potato preload decreased the postprandial glycemic excursion in young healthy female subjects. The combination of HG and HP as double preload resulted in better GR than both single HG or HP preload did.