Health outcome studies should examine food patterns, because foods are consumed together and nutrients are metabolized jointly. To examine associations between food patterns and markers of systemic and vascular inflammation at baseline, in a population-based cohort in Malmö, Sweden, and after 13 years of follow-up food pattern associations with CVD incidence.

Inclusion Criteria:

• The "cardiovascular sub-cohort" is a random sample (i.e., 50 percent) of those who joined from November 1991 to February 1994. This group underwent additional examinations to assess carotid arteriosclerosis by ultrasound (n = 6103) and donated blood after fasting (n = 5533).

Exclusion Criteria:

• Subjects were excluded, either because they were using medication for diabetes mellitus or had previously been diagnosed as having diabetes mellitus.

The Malmö Diet and Cancer Cohort (MDC), a large-scale, population-based, prospective cohort study, was designed in the early 1990s to identify dietary and lifestyle risk factors related to the incidence of cancer. Men aged 46-73 years (n =11 063) and women aged 45-73 years (n = 17 035) living in Malmö, the third largest city in Sweden, at that time, were examinedinvited to participate. Baseline examinations took place at the MDC CentreCenter at the Skåne Malmö University Hospital in Malmö between March 1991 and October 1996.