Longitudinal analyses were conducted on the associations between diet and cardiovascular and cardiopulmonary disease risk in approximately 3,800 Offspring men and women over eight years of follow-up (from 1984 to present). These analyses considered key nutrients as well as newly defined dietary patterns in Framingham men and women. Cross sectional analyses of diet and plasma lipoprotein relationships in Offspring men and women at two examinations (Exam 3, 1984-88; and Exam 5, 1991-94) were also conducted. All analyses evaluated the total (direct and indirect) and joint effects of dietary nutrients. Where appropriate, analyses controlled for plasma nutrient levels (folacin, vitamins B6 and B12 and homocysteine). The influence of potential confounding variables, effect modifiers, and intervening variables that lie in the causal pathway were examined, as appropriate to the statistical model, including traditional cardiovascular disease risk factors and apoE isoform status.