TY  - JOUR
A1  - Garcia-Larsen, Vanessa
A1  - Arthur, Rhonda
A1  - Potts, James F.
A1  - Howarth, Peter H.
A1  - Ahlström, Matti
A1  - Haahtela, Tari
A1  - Loureiro, Carlos
A1  - Bom, Ana Todo
A1  - Brożek, Grzegorz
A1  - Makowska, Joanna
A1  - Kowalski, Marek L.
A1  - Thilsing, Trine
A1  - Keil, Thomas
A1  - Matricardi, Paolo M.
A1  - Torén, Kjell
A1  - van Zele, Thibaut
A1  - Bachert, Claus
A1  - Rymarczyk, Barbara
A1  - Janson, Christer
A1  - Forsberg, Bertil
A1  - Niżankowska-Mogilnicka, Ewa
A1  - Burney, Peter G. J.
T1  - Is fruit and vegetable intake associated with asthma or chronic rhino-sinusitis in European adults? Results from the Global Allergy and Asthma Network of Excellence (GA\(^2\)LEN) Survey
JF  - Clinical and Translational Allergy
N2  - Background: Fruits and vegetables are rich in compounds with proposed antioxidant, anti-allergic and anti-inflammatory properties, which could contribute to reduce the prevalence of asthma and allergic diseases.
Objective: We investigated the association between asthma, and chronic rhino-sinusitis (CRS) with intake of fruits and vegetables in European adults.
Methods: A stratified random sample was drawn from the Global Allergy and Asthma Network of Excellence (GA\(^2\)LEN) screening survey, in which 55,000 adults aged 15–75 answered a questionnaire on respiratory symptoms. Asthma score (derived from self-reported asthma symptoms) and CRS were the outcomes of interest. Dietary intake of 22 subgroups of fruits and vegetables was ascertained using the internationally validated GA\(^2\)LEN Food Frequency Questionnaire. Adjusted associations were examined with negative binomial and multiple regressions. Simes procedure was used to control for multiple testing.
Results: A total of 3206 individuals had valid data on asthma and dietary exposures of interest. 22.8% reported having at least 1 asthma symptom (asthma score ≥1), whilst 19.5% had CRS. After adjustment for potential confounders, asthma score was negatively associated with intake of dried fruits (β-coefficient −2.34; 95% confidence interval [CI] −4.09, −0.59), whilst CRS was statistically negatively associated with total intake of fruits (OR 0.73; 95% CI 0.55, 0.97). Conversely, a positive association was observed between asthma score and alliums vegetables (adjusted β-coefficient 0.23; 95% CI 0.06, 0.40). None of these associations remained statistically significant after controlling for multiple testing.
Conclusion and clinical relevance: There was no consistent evidence for an association of asthma or CRS with fruit and vegetable intake in this representative sample of European adults.
KW  - Fruits
KW  - Vegetables
KW  - Asthma
KW  - Chronic rhino‑sinusitis
KW  - Adults
KW  - Europe
KW  - Meta‑analysis
KW  - GA\(^2\)LEN
Y1  - 2017
U6  - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-180887
VL  - 7
ER  -