ABSTRACT

The association between the intake of non-alcoholic beverages and cardiovascular disease in Asians is uncertain. The intake of non-alcoholic beverages was estimated in 77,407 participants of the Japan public health center-based cohort study aged 45-74 years. The Cox regression calculated the HRs and 95% CIs for incident cardiovascular disease according to sex-specific quintiles of intake of non-alcoholic beverages. A total of 4578 incident cardiovascular disease (3,751 strokes and 827 coronary heart disease) were diagnosed during a 13.6-year median follow-up. The risks of stroke and total cardiovascular disease were lower for the highest versus lowest intake quintiles of non-alcoholic beverages in men and women: the multivariable HRs (95%CIs) were 0.82 (0.71-0.93, p-trend=0.005) and 0.86 (0.76-0.97, p-trend=0.02), respectively in men, and were 0.73 (0.63-0.86, p-trend=0.003) and 0.75 (0.65-0.87, p-trend=0.005) respectively in women. The reduced risk was evident for both ischemic and hemorrhagic strokes and was mainly attributable to green tea consumption. The intake of non-alcoholic beverages from coffee and other beverages was not associated with the risk of cardiovascular disease in both men and women. Also, there was no association between the intake of non-alcohol beverages and the risk of coronary heart disease in either sex. In conclusion, the risks of stroke and total cardiovascular disease were lower with a higher intake of non-alcoholic beverages in Japanese men and women.