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. 2021 Apr 14;13(4):1288. doi: 10.3390/nu13041288

Table 1.

Effect of fiber and meat consumption in the prevention of acute diverticulitis and diverticula bleeding.

Author, Year Country Type of Study Follow-Up
(Years)
Number of pts, Gender, Age Dietary Assessment Main
Outcome
Intervention/Control Main Results
Ma W, 2019 [20] US Prospective cohort study
(Nurses’ Health Stydy)
24 50,019 women, 43–70 years FFQ
(131 food items)
Dietary fibre consumption and risk of diverticulitis Intake of fiber divided into quintile Diverticulitis
Compared with patients in the lowest quintile (Q1), patients in the highest quintile (Q5) had:
Multivariable adjusted HR = 0.86 (95%CI: 0.78–0.95) for total fibre;
HR = 0.89 (95%CI: 0.81–0.99) for cereal fibre;
HR = 0.83 (95%CI: 0.75–0.92) for fruit fibre;
HR = 0.91 (95%CI: 0.83–1.01) for vegetable fibre.
Cao Y, 2018 [21] US Prospective cohort study, (Health Professional Follow-up Study) 26 46,461 men
40–75 years
FFQ Meat consumption and risk of diverticulitis Intake of meat
divided into quintile
Diverticulitis
Compared with men in the lowest quintile (Q1), men in the highest quintile (Q5) had:
Multivariable RR of 1.58 (95% CI: 1.19–2.11) for total red meat;
Multivariable RR of 1.51 (95% CI: 1.12–2.03) for unprocessed red meat;
Multivariable RR of 1.03 (95% CI: 0.78–1.35) for processed red meat.
Higher consumption of poultry or fish was not associated with risk of diverticulitis.
Strate LL, 2017 [22] US Prospective cohort study,
(Health Professional Follow-up Study)
26 46,295 men
40–75 years
FFQ
(131–148 food items)
Dietary patterns and risk of diverticulitis Western and Prudent dietary pattern,
AHEI, into quintile
Diverticulitis
Compared with men in the lowest quintile (Q1), men in the highest quintile (Q5) had:
Multivariate HR= 1.55 (95% CI:1.20–1.99) for Western pattern;
Multivariate HR = 0.74 (95%CI: 0.60–0.91) for Prudent pattern;
Multivariate HR = 0.67 (0.55–0.82) for AHEI pattern.
Crowe FL, 2014 [23] UK Prospective cohort study
(The Million Women Study)
6 690,075 women
50–65 yrs
Questionnaire (40 food and beverage items) Dietary fibre consumption and hospitalization for diverticular disease Intake in quintile of fiber (g/day) Complicated diverticular disease *
The RR for complicated DD per 5 gr/day were:
Total fiber: 0.70 (95%CI: 0.58–0.84);
Cereal: 0.65 (95%CI: 0.49–0.85);
Fruit:0.60 (95%CI: 0.42–0.85);
Non-potato vegetable: 0.70 (95%CI: 0.37–1.30).
Strate LL, 2008 [24] US Prospective cohort study, (Health Professional Follow-up Study) 18 47,228 men
40–75 years
FFQ
(131 food items)
Nut, corn and popcorn consumption and risk of diverticulitis or diverticular bleeding Frequency of food consumption, (from never /less than once a month, to more than 6 times a day) Diverticulitis
Compared to men with the highest intake, men with the lowest intake had:
Multivariate HR: 0.80 (95%CI: 0.63–1.01) for nuts;
Multivariate HR: 0.72 (95% CI: 0.56–0.92) for popcorn;
Multivariate HR: 1.13 (95% CI: 0.83–1.54) for corn.
Diverticular bleeding
Multivariate HR: 1.08 (95%CI: 0.77–1.49) for nuts;
Multivariate HR: 0.82 (95% CI: 0.59–1.15) for popcorn;
Multivariate HR: 1.07 (95% CI: 0.67–1.71) for corn.

Legend: UK: United Kingdom; Pts: patients; FFQ: food frequency questionnaire; HR: hazard ratio; RR: relative risk; Alternative Healthy Eating Index (AHEI); * complicated diverticular disease was defined as diverticula with abscess, bleeding, or perforation (ICD-10 = code: K570, K572, K578).