Nut, corn and popcorn consumption and the incidence of diverticular disease

By L. Strate, Yan L Liu, S. Syngal, W. Aldoori, Edward L Giovannucci. Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), 2008

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Context: Patients with diverticular disease are frequently advised to avoid nuts, corn, popcorn and seeds to reduce the risk of complications. However, there is little evidence to support this recommendation. Objective: To determine if nut, corn and popcorn consumption are associated with diverticulitis and diverticular bleeding. Design and Setting: The Health Professionals Follow-up Study, a cohort of men followed prospectively from 1986 to 2004 via self-administered medical (biennial) and dietary (every 4 years) questionnaires. Men reporting newly diagnosed diverticulosis or diverticulitis were mailed supplemental questionnaires. Participants: 47,228 men aged 40-75 years who at baseline were free of diverticulosis or its complications, cancer, and inflammatory bowel disease, and returned a food frequency questionnaire. Main Outcome Measures: Incident diverticulitis and diverticular bleeding. Results: During 18 years of follow-up, there were 801 incident cases of diverticulitis and 383 incident cases of diverticular bleeding. We found inverse associations between nut, and popcorn consumption and the risk of diverticulitis. The multivariable hazard ratios for men with the highest intake of each food (at least twice per week) compared to men with the lowest intake (less than once per month) were 0.80 (95% CI 0.63-1.01; P for trend 0.04) for nuts, and 0.72 (95% CI 0.56-0.92; P for trend 0.007) for popcorn. No associations were seen between corn consumption and diverticulitis, or between nut, corn, or popcorn consumption and diverticular bleeding or uncomplicated diverticulosis. Conclusions: In this large, prospective study of men without known diverticular disease, nut, corn and popcorn consumption did not increase the risk of diverticulosis or diverticular complications. The recommendation to avoid these foods to prevent diverticular complications should be reconsidered.

Subfields: Genetics, Oncology, Surgery

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