Mineral Intake and Cardiovascular Disease, Cancer, and All-Cause Mortality: Findings from the Golestan Cohort Study

Associations between mineral intake and mortality in non-Western countries have not been studied adequately. This study evaluated these associations in the Golestan Cohort Study, featuring a Middle Eastern population. The mineral intake was estimated from the baseline food frequency questionnaire, adjusted by using the nutrient density method, and divided into quintiles. We used Cox proportional hazards models to estimate hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the mortality. We analyzed 41,863 subjects with a mean age of 51.46 ± 8.73 years at the baseline. During 578,694 person-years of follow-up (median: 14.1 Years), 7217 deaths were recorded. Dietary calcium intake was inversely associated with the all-cause mortality (HRQ5 vs. Q1 = 0.91, 95%CI = 0.85–0.99). We observed significant associations between calcium (HRQ5 vs. Q1 = 0.82, 95% CI = 0.73–0.93), copper (HRQ5 vs. Q1 = 1.11, 95% CI = 0.99–1.26), and selenium intake (HRQ5 vs. Q1 = 1.14, 95% CI = 1.01–1.29) and CVD mortality. Dietary phosphorus (HRQ5 vs. Q1 = 0.81, 95%CI = 0.69–0.96) and copper intake (HRQ5 vs. Q1 = 0.84, 95%CI = 0.71–0.99) were inversely associated with cancer mortality. In this study within a Middle Eastern population, a higher dietary intake of calcium exhibited an inverse association with all-cause mortality. Furthermore, nuanced associations were observed in the cause-specific mortality, suggesting potential avenues for dietary interventions and emphasizing the importance of considering dietary factors in public health strategies.