Dietary intakes of green leafy vegetables and incidence of cardiovascular diseases
Akin Ojagbemi, Akinkunmi Paul Okekunle, Paul Olowoyo, Onoja Akpa, Rufus Akinyemi, Bruce Ovbiagele, Mayowa Owolabi
Abstract
AIM: Low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) are currently experiencing increasing cardiovascular disease (CVD) rates. Green leafy vegetables (GLV), which are abundant in these countries, are known to be particularly rich in cardioprotective nutrients. This study sought to determine the specific effect of GLV intake on the incidence of CVD. METHODS: < 0.05 using RevMan 5.4. RESULTS: The pooled RR (95% CI) of incident CVD events from 17 studies was 0.93 (0.92-0.95). Specifically, GLV intake was inversely related with incident cerebral infarction (RR: 0.92; 95% CI: 0.88-0.96), heart disease (RR: 0.93; 95% CI: 0.87-0.99) and other CVD events (RR: 0.95; 95% CI: 0.93-0.98). CONCLUSIONS: GLV intake was associated with a lower incidence of CVD, and may be a promising primary-prevention strategy against CVD events. The findings are especially important in LMICs where the burden of CVD remains high.