Larsson SC, et al. - The link between nut consumption and prevalence of seven cardiovascular diseases was investigated, given an already established inverse relationship between nut consumption and cardiovascular disease mortality. The risk of atrial fibrillation and possibly heart failure could be modified via nut consumption or factors associated with nutritional behavior.

Methods

• Researchers included 61,364 Swedish adults who had completed a Food Frequency Questionnaire and were followed up for 17 years via linkage with the Swedish National Patient and Death Registers.

Results

• Age-adjusted and sex-adjusted analysis revealed an inverse association of nut consumption with risk of myocardial infarction, heart failure, atrial fibrillation and abdominal aortic aneurysm.
• After adjusting for multiple risk factors, these relationships were weakened, and only a linear, dose–response association with atrial fibrillation (p_trend=0.004) and a non-linear association (p_trend=0.003) with heart failure endured.
• Across categories of nut consumption frequency, the multivariable HRs (95% CI) of atrial fibrillation were 0.97 (0.93 to 1.02) for 1–3 times/month, 0.88 (0.79 to 0.99) for 1–2 times/week and 0.82 (0.68 to 0.99) for ≥3 times/week, relative to no consumption of nuts.
• Data showed that for heart failure, the corresponding HRs (95% CI) were 0.87 (0.80 to 0.94), 0.80 (0.67 to 0.97) and 0.98 (0.76 to 1.27).
• Risk of aortic valve stenosis, ischemic stroke or intracerebral hemorrhage was not impacted by nut consumption.