Association between Adequate Fruit and Vegetable Intake and CVDs-Associated Risk Factors among the Malaysian Adults: Findings from a Nationally Representative Cross-Sectional Study

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between adequate fruit and vegetable intake, and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs)-associated risk factors (i.e., diabetes, hypertension and hypercholesterolemia) among Malaysian adults without history of chronic diseases. We analyzed the data from 11,172 Malaysian adults (i.e., 5554 male and 5618 female), who participated in the population-based National Health and Morbidity Survey 2015. Multiple logistic regression was employed to determine the relationship between adequate daily intake of fruit and vegetables (i.e., ≥5 servings per day) and undiagnosed diabetes, undiagnosed hypertension, and undiagnosed hypercholesterolemia, after adjustment for sociodemographic characteristics and lifestyle risk factors. The mean age (±SE) of these participants was 40.79 (±0.17) years old. Our data demonstrated an adequate daily intake of fruit and vegetables was inversely associated with undiagnosed hypercholesterolemia (adjusted OR: 0.71; 95% CI: 0.51–0.98). Further analyses demonstrated an inverse association between the adequate daily intake of vegetables alone and undiagnosed hypertension (adjusted OR: 0.71; 95% CI: 0.51–0.98). The findings from this study suggest the need for a holistic public health approach to reinforce public awareness about diet-related diseases, which will eventually aid in the prevention of CVDs among Malaysian adults in the long run.