Background: Elevated circulating total homocysteine (tHcy) is an independent risk factor for vascular diseases.
Objective: We investigated the relation between dietary intakes and serum tHcy in the US population.
Design: Data from the third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (1988-1994) were used to investigate the associations between food consumption frequency and dietary B vitamin intakes and serum tHcy in 5996 persons.
Results: Multivariate-adjusted tHcy concentrations were approximately 15.2% higher in subjects who never consumed milk than in those who consumed milk >30 times/mo, approximately 6.4% higher in subjects who never consumed yogurt than in those who consumed yogurt >15 times/mo, approximately 7.4% higher in subjects who never consumed cold breakfast cereals than in those who consumed cold breakfast cereals >30 times/mo, approximately 6.3% higher in subjects who never consumed peppers (includes red, yellow, green, and hot chili peppers) than in those who consumed peppers >30 times/mo, and approximately 16.5% higher in subjects who never consumed cruciferous vegetables than in those who consumed cruciferous vegetables >30 times/mo. Consumption of citrus fruit and juices, cheese, meats, coffee, or tea had no significant association with tHcy. Folate (beta=-0.0017, P for trend=0.004) and riboflavin (beta=-0.2851, P for trend=0.027), but not vitamin B-6 (beta=0.0505, P for trend=0.70) and cobalamin (beta=-0.0035, P for trend=0.58), were inversely related to serum tHcy after adjustment for confounders.
Conclusions: In this population-based study, milk, yogurt, cold breakfast cereals, peppers, and cruciferous vegetables were inversely related to serum tHcy. This association may be explained by increased intakes of folate and riboflavin.