The relationship between vegetable intake and chronic gastric disorder among community-inhabiting residents aged 35 years and older in China

Yue Guan¹Yu Dong²Huiqing Xu³Yunting Xu⁴Guofeng Ao⁴Jing Ji⁴Jie Yuan^2*Yan Zhang^2*Qing Ye⁴

• ¹Nanjing First Hospital, Nanjing Meidcal University, Nanjing, China
• ²Nanjing First Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China
• ³Nanjing Medical University Affiliated Nanjing Municipal Center for Disease Control and Preveniton, Nanjing, China
• ⁴Nanjing Medical University Affiliated Nanjing Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Nanjing, China

ABSTRACT Background Chronic gastric disorder (CGD) is a common disease among people in China. However, very few studies are available on the association between lifestyle like vegetable consumption and CGD. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between vegetable intake and CGD among adults in regional China. Methods In this cross-sectional survey conducted in 2023, totally 38051 community-inhabiting residents aged 35 years and older were randomly chosen from Nanjing municipality of China. The outcome event was self-reported CGD, referring to chronic atrophic gastritis or chronic gastric ulcers. Vegetable intake level was assessed using validated food frequency questionnaire and classified into two subgroups based on consumption recommendation (≥300 g/d) by China Nutrition Society and tertiles, separately. Logistic regression analyses were introduced to compute odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) to examine associations between vegetable intake and CGD. Results Among participants analyzed, the overall prevalence of CGD was 16.6%. Moreover, the proportion of participants who met vegetable consumption recommendation was 32.0%. After adjustment for potential confounding factors, participants whose vegetable intake reached recommendation were at significantly higher odds to experience CGD (OR=1.16, 95%CI=1.10, 1.23) compared to those who did not meet the recommendation. Additionally, adults in high (OR=1.26, 95%CI=1.18, 1.35) and middle (OR=1.16, 95%CI=1.09, 1.24) tertiles of vegetable intake were also more likely to experience CGD relative to their counterparts who were within the low tertile, respectively. Furthermore, such positive associations between vegetable intake (indicated with either recommendation level or tertile) and CGD were consistently observed among participants by age, sex or residence area. Conclusions Vegetable intake was positively associated with CGD in community-dwelling residents aged 35 years and older overall, by age, sex or residence location in regional China. This study implied that vegetable intake might be an influencing factor of CGD for adults in China, and suggested that population-level intervention of vegetable consumption might be an option for CGD prevention.