Associations of vegetable and fruit consumption with metabolic syndrome. A meta-analysis of observational studies

Objective: To examine the associations of vegetable and/or fruit consumption with metabolic syndrome (MetS). Design: Meta-analysis of observational studies. Setting: The electronic databases of PubMed, Web of Science and EMBASE were searched up to September 2017 for observational studies concerning the associations of vegetable and/or fruit consumption with MetS. The pooled relative risk (RR) of MetS for the highest v. the lowest category of vegetable and/or fruit consumption, as well as their corresponding 95% CI, were calculated. Results: A total of twenty-six observational studies (twenty cross-sectional, one case-control and five cohort studies) were included in the meta-analysis. Specifically, sixteen studies were related to vegetable consumption and the overall multivariable-adjusted RR evidenced a negative association between vegetable consumption and MetS (RR = 0.89, 95% CI 0.85, 0.93; P < 0.001). For fruit consumption, sixteen studies were included and the overall multivariable-adjusted RR demonstrated that fruit consumption was inversely associated with MetS (RR = 0.81, 95% CI 0.75, 0.88; P < 0.001). For vegetable and fruit consumption, eight studies were included; the overall multivariable-adjusted RR showed that vegetable and fruit consumption was also negatively associated with MetS (RR = 0.75, 95% CI 0.63, 0.90; P = 0.002). Conclusions: The existing evidence suggests that vegetable and/or fruit consumption is negatively associated with MetS. More well-designed prospective cohort studies are needed to elaborate the concerned issues further.