Importance of flavonoid rich foods and flavonoids is not fully understood. To examine associations of intake of such items with subsequent mortality data from 93,145 young and middle aged women was analysed from the Nurses’ Health Study II. During the study period of 1,838,946 person years of follow up 1808 subjects died.
When compared with non-consumers those that were frequent consumers were found to be at a decreased risk of all cause mortality of (P<0:05), strongest associations were observed for multivariable adjusted hazard ratios were 0:60 ( 95% CI 0:49; 0:74) and 0:73 (95% CI 0:65; 0:83). However frequent grapefruit eaters were found to be at higher risk of all causes mortality compared to their non-grapefruit consuming counterparts (P<0:05).
Subjects in the highest quintile of total flavonoid intake were at decreased risk of all cause mortality in the middle age adjusted model at 0:81 (95% CI 0:71; 0:93), this association was attenuated following multivariable adjustments 0:92 (95% CI 0:80; 1:06).
Consumption of flavan-3-ols, proanthocyanidins and anthocyanins yielded similar results. Flavonols, flavones, and flavanones were not associated with all cause mortality in any model. Higher intake of tea, peppers, blueberries, strawberries, and red wine was associated with decreased risk of total and cause specific mortality despite the null associations. Researchers suggest that their finding are supportive of the rationale for making better/healthy food based recommendations.
