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A cohort study of dietary fibre intake and menarche

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2007

Malcolm M Koo*
Affiliation:
Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Toronto, 12 Queen's Park Crescent West, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 1A8, Canada
Thomas E Rohan
Affiliation:
Department of Epidemiology and Social Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY, USA
Meera Jain
Affiliation:
Faculty of Medicine, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
John R McLaughlin
Affiliation:
Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Toronto, 12 Queen's Park Crescent West, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 1A8, Canada Division of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Samuel Lunenfeld Research Institute, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Paul N Corey
Affiliation:
Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Toronto, 12 Queen's Park Crescent West, Toronto, Ontario, M5S 1A8, Canada
*
*Corresponding author: Email m.koo@utoronto.ca
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Abstract

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Objective:

To evaluate the influence of dietary fibre on menarche in a cohort of pre-menarcheal girls.

Design:

Prospective cohort study.

Setting:

Ontario, Canada.

Subjects:

Free-living pre-menarcheal girls (n = 637), 6 to 14 years of age.

Methodology:

Information on dietary intake, physical activity and date of menarche was collected at baseline and was updated annually by self-administered questionnaires for three years. Cox proportional hazards models were used to evaluate the association between dietary fibre and menarche, adjusting for age at entry to the study and potential confounders.

Results:

A higher intake of energy-adjusted dietary fibre was associated with a lower risk of (i.e. a later age at) menarche (relative hazard 0.54, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.31–0.94 for highest vs. lowest quartile, P for trend = 0.027). At the fibre component level, a higher intake of energy-adjusted cellulose was associated with a lower risk of menarche (relative hazard 0.45, 95% CI 0.26–0.76, P for trend = 0.009).

Conclusions:

The findings are consistent with the hypothesis that pre-menarcheal dietary intake can influence menarche.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © CABI Publishing 2002

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