Dietary flavonoid intakes and CVD incidence in the Framingham Offspring Cohort.

This study examines the relationship between long-term intake of six flavonoid classes and incidence of CVD and CHD, using a comprehensive flavonoid database and repeated measures of intake, while accounting for possible confounding by components of a healthy dietary pattern. Flavonoid intakes were assessed using a FFQ among the Framingham Offspring Cohort at baseline and three times during follow-up. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to characterise prospective associations between the natural logarithms of flavonoid intakes and CVD incidence using a time-dependent approach, in which intake data were updated at each examination to represent average intakes from previous examinations.

Improving the estimation of flavonoid intake for study of health outcomes.

Imprecision in estimating intakes of non-nutrient bioactive compounds such as flavonoids is a challenge in epidemiologic studies of health outcomes. The sources of this imprecision, using flavonoids as an example, include the variability of bioactive compounds in foods due to differences in growing conditions and processing, the challenges in laboratory quantification of flavonoids in foods, the incompleteness of flavonoid food composition tables, and the lack of adequate dietary assessment instruments. Steps to improve databases of bioactive compounds and to increase the accuracy and precision of the estimation of bioactive compound intakes in studies of health benefits and outcomes are suggested.

Higher dietary anthocyanin and flavonol intakes are associated with anti-inflammatory effects in a population of US adults.

Background: Although growing evidence from trials and population-based studies has supported a protective role for flavonoids in relation to risk of certain chronic diseases, the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Several previous studies focused on individual inflammatory biomarkers, but because of the limited specificity of any individual marker, an assessment of a combination of biomarkers may be more informative.

Objective: We used an inflammation score (IS) that integrated 12 individual inflammatory biomarkers for the examination of associations with intakes of different flavonoid classes.

Evidence for an association of dietary flavonoid intake with breast cancer risk by estrogen receptor status is limited.

Background: Results from preclinical studies suggest that flavonoids, which are ubiquitous in plant-based diets, lower breast cancer risk. Epidemiologic studies of flavonoid intake and breast cancer risk, however, are limited, and few investigated associations with the more aggressive estrogen receptor (ER)-negative (ER-) tumors.

Objective: We examined the associations between 7 subclasses of dietary flavonoids and invasive postmenopausal breast cancer risk overall and by ER status in a U.

Dietary flavonoid and proanthocyanidin intakes and prostate cancer risk in a prospective cohort of US men.

Higher dietary intakes of flavonoids and proanthocyanidins have been associated with a lower risk of several cancers. Few prospective epidemiologic studies have examined individual flavonoids and proanthocyanidins in relation to prostate cancer. We examined these associations in a prospective US cohort of 43,268 men with a mean age of 70 years who completed detailed self-administered questionnaires in 1999-2000.

Higher dietary flavonol intake is associated with lower incidence of type 2 diabetes.

Substantial experimental evidence suggests that several flavonoid classes are involved in glucose metabolism, but few clinical or epidemiologic studies exist that provide supporting human evidence for this relationship. The objective of this study was to determine if habitual intakes of specific flavonoid classes are related to incidence of type 2 diabetes (T2D). We followed 2915 members of the Framingham Offspring cohort who were free of T2D at baseline from 1991 to 2008.

Associations between flavonoids and cardiovascular disease incidence or mortality in European and US populations.

Twenty publications from twelve prospective cohorts have evaluated associations between flavonoid intakes and incidence or mortality from cardiovascular disease (CVD) among adults in Europe and the United States. The most common outcome was coronary heart disease mortality, and four of eight cohort studies reported significant inverse associations for at least one flavonoid class (multivariate adjusted p(trend) < 0.05).

Flavonoid intake and cardiovascular disease mortality in a prospective cohort of US adults.

Background: Flavonoids are plant-based phytochemicals with cardiovascular protective properties. Few studies have comprehensively examined flavonoid classes in relation to cardiovascular disease mortality.

Objective: We examined the association between flavonoid intake and cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality among participants in a large, prospective US cohort.

Flavonoid consumption and esophageal cancer among black and white men in the United States.

Flavonoids and proanthocyanidins are bioactive polyphenolic components of fruits and vegetables that may account for part of the protective effect of raw fruit and vegetable consumption in esophageal cancer. We studied the relationship between esophageal cancer and dietary proanthocyanidins, flavonoids and flavonoid subclasses (anthocyanidins, flavan-3-ols, flavanones, flavones, flavonols and isoflavonoids) using recently developed USDA and Tufts flavonoid and proanthocyanidin databases. The study was a population-based, case-control analysis of 161 white men with esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC), 114 white and 218 black men with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and 678 white and 557 black male controls who lived in 3 areas of the United States.

Measuring flavonoid intake: need for advanced tools.

Objective: Flavonoids are phytochemicals with potentially beneficial biological effects that are poorly characterised in existing tables of food composition.

Design: To describe new techniques for analysis, absorption, informatics and dietary assessment that are important in measuring the flavonoid content in foods and in developing a flavonoid food composition database.

Setting: Data on chemical analyses of the major flavonoid compounds that exist in the food science literature are being located, collated and compiled into a preliminary flavonoid food composition database.