NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - New findings from the Health Professionals Follow-up Study "refute the pervasive but unproven belief" that eating nuts, corn and popcorn is associated with diverticular complications, according to an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
In fact, "we found inverse associations between nut and popcorn consumption and the risk of diverticulitis," Dr. Lisa L. Strate, at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, and co-authors of the report.
Diverticulitis involves the formation of small pouches in the lining of the colon called diverticula. When the pouches become inflamed or infected, the condition is called diverticulitis, which can result in bleeding, infection and small perforations.
Their analysis included 47,228 male health professionals ages 40 to 75 years old who were free of diverticulosis or its complications, cancer or inflammatory bowel disease in 1986.
The men completed questionnaires on their eating habits every 4 years and questionnaires about their health every 2 years until 2004. By then, there were 801 cases of diverticulitis and 383 cases of diverticular bleeding.
Further analysis revealed that the men who ate the most nuts (at least twice per week) were 20 percent less likely have diverticular disease than those who ate the least (less than once per month), and men who ate the most popcorn were 28 percent less likely to develop the bowel disease, the investigators report.
The investigators observed no association between corn consumption and diverticulitis. The results showed that none of the three foods was related to diverticular bleeding or to uncomplicated diverticulosis.
Strate and her team suggest that the high content of minerals and nutrients with anti-inflammatory properties in nuts may favorably influence the colon. Even though popcorn provides fewer nutrients, they add, it does contain lutein, a micronutrient with anti-inflammatory and chemo protective properties.
On the other hand, their results were not explained by the high fiber content of nuts and popcorn. There was also no evidence to support the idea that people who consumed the most of these foods had more healthy habits.
Overall, the researchers conclude that "the recommendation to avoid these foods to prevent diverticular complications should be reconsidered."
SOURCE: Journal of the American Medical Association, July 27, 2008.
