Current intake levels of potatoes and all-cause mortality in China: A population-based nationwide study
Xiaoqian Chen Nutrition Available online 19 June 2020, 110902
Highlights
• Low and moderate potato consumption was associated with lower all-cause mortality.
• High intake of potatoes was not related to mortality due to processing contaminants.
• Sweet potato consumption was inversely associated with all-cause mortality.
• Equally substituting grains and mixed beans for potatoes at high intake levels strengthened the associations.
• The inverse relationship may be ascribed to conventional Chinese cooking methods and nutrients in potatoes.
Objective
: Current levels of potato consumption in relation to mortality in Chinese people remains unknown. We aimed to investigate the intakes of total potatoes, fried potatoes, non-fried potatoes and sweet potatoes as dietary carbohydrate sources in relation to all-cause mortality in the China Health and Nutrition Survey (CHNS).
Methods
Overall 14,117 participants aged ≥20 years were included with a median follow-up of 14 years. The accumulative average consumption of potatoes and other foods were calculated and validated using weighing methods in combination with 3-day 24-h dietary recalls at both household and individual levels. Hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were estimated using Cox proportional hazards regression models after multivariate adjustment.
Results
We documented 1007 deaths among the participants. The low and moderate intakes of total potatoes, fried potatoes and non-fried potatoes were inversely associated with mortality. Compared to non-consumers, the intakes of total potatoes (HR: 0.48, 95% CI: 0.38-0.59), fried potatoes (HR: 0.44, 95% CI: 0.34-0.56) and non-fried potatoes (HR: 0.47, 95% CI: 0.37-0.61) at low consumption levels were most significantly related to lower mortality. Sweet potato consumption was also inversely associated with mortality after full adjustment (HR: 0.82, 95% CI: 0.69-0.96) compared to non-consumers. Substituting grains and mixed beans for potatoes with equal amounts at high consumption levels strengthened the inverse associations.
Conclusion
In the CHNS, current low and moderate but not high levels of total potato and fried/non-fried potato consumption as well as sweet potato consumption were inversely associated with all-cause mortality among Chinese people.