Background and Aims: Evidence suggests not all vegetables are the same for cardiometabolic health.Intake of specific vegetable groups exhibit significantly stronger associations with improved cardiometabolic health outcomes in adult populations.Few studies have investigated these relationships in young adults.This study aimed to investigate the relative contributions of specific vegetable groups to cardiometabolic risk in a cohort of young adults. Methods and Results:A cross-sectional analysis was conducted in participants from the Western Australia-based Raine Study (n=638) at the 22-year follow-up.Using a food frequency questionnaire, vegetables were grouped into allium, cruciferous, green leafy, legumes, and yellow-orange-red.Participants were classified as high-metabolic risk if 2 risk factors exceeded metabolic syndrome diagnostic criteria according to the International Diabetes Federation.Mann Whitney-U tests and logistic regressions examined the relationship between vegetable groups and cardiometabolic risk (high vs low).638 participants (53% female) aged 22.1yrs ( 0.6yrs) were included.Significant differences were found between low-and high-risk groups for dietary intake (per serve; 75g/day) of legumes in males and cruciferous and green leafy vegetables in females.After adjustment for sociodemographic, lifestyle and dietary covariates, higher legume intake remained a J o u r n a l P r e -p r o o f ECU Internal Information significant predictor for lower odds of cardiometabolic risk for males (OR = 0.278, 95%CI = 0.088-0.883,p = 0.030), whilst cruciferous intake remained significant for females (OR = 0.151, 95%CI = 0.023-0.999,p = 0.049). Conclusion:Our results suggest higher intakes of legumes and cruciferous vegetables are associated with lower odds of cardiometabolic risk in young adults, with significant sex differences.
McNamara et al. (Sun,) studied this question.