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Nutritional Epidemiology

Dietary Intake of Selected Nutrients Affects Bacterial Vaginosis in Women^1–3,

⁴ Department of Human Nutrition, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487; ⁵ Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and ⁶ Department of Medicine, University of Alabama, Birmingham, Alabama 35233; ⁷ Division of Epidemiology, Statistics and Prevention Research, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, NIH, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, MD 20892; and ⁸ Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Drexel College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA 19102

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: yneggers{at}ches.ua.edu.

Bacterial vaginosis (BV), a condition of altered vaginal flora, is associated with various adverse reproductive health outcomes. We evaluated the association between diet and the presence of BV in a subset of 1521 women (86% African-American) from a larger study of vaginal flora. Participants completed the Block Food Questionnaire and clinical assessments and self-report measures of sexual and hygiene behavior. A total of 42% of the women were classified as having BV (Nugent score 7). Severe BV (Nugent score 9 and vaginal pH 5) was present in 14.9% of the women. BV was associated [adjusted OR (AOR)] with increased dietary fat (1.5, 1.1–2.4) after adjusting for other energy nutrients and behavioral and demographic covariates. Severe BV was associated with total fat (2.3, 1.3–4.3), saturated fat (2.1, 1.2–3.9), and monounsaturated fat (2.2, 1.2–4.1). Energy intake was only marginally associated (P = 0.05) with BV (1.4, 1.0–1.8). There were significant inverse associations between severe BV and intakes of folate (0.4, 0.2–0.8), vitamin E (0.4, 0.2–0.8), and calcium (0.4, 0.3–0.7). We conclude that increased dietary fat intake is associated with increased risk of BV and severe BV, whereas increased intake of folate, vitamin A, and calcium may decrease the risk of severe BV.

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