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Research: KNEKT and co-workers,
Listed in Issue 111
Abstract
KNEKT and co-workers, National Public Health Institute, Helsinki, Finland, paul.knekt@ktl.fi, have analyzed antioxidant vitamins and the risk of coronary heart disease.
Background
Epidemiological studies have suggested a lower risk of coronary heart disease at higher intakes of fruit, vegetables, and whole grain. Whether this association is due to antioxidant vitamins or other factors remains unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between the intake of antioxidant vitamins and coronary heart disease risk.
Methodology
In this cohort study, 9 prospective studies that included information on intakes of vitamin E, carotenoids, and vitamin C were pooled. During a 10-year follow-up, 4647 major incident coronary heart disease events occurred in 293 172 subjects who were free of disease at baseline.
Results
Dietary intake of antioxidant vitamins was only weakly related to a reduced coronary heart disease risk after adjustment for potential confounding factors. Compared with subjects in the lowest quintiles for vitamins E and C, those in the highest intake quintiles had relative risks of coronary heart disease incidence of 0.84 (p = 0.17) and 1.23 (p = 0.07), respectively. The relative risks for subjects in the highest quintiles for the various carotenoids varied from 0.90 to 0.99. Subjects with higher supplemental vitamin C intake had a lower coronary heart disease incidence. Compared with subjects who did not take supplemental vitamin C, those who took >700 mg supplemental vitamin C per day had a relative risk of 0.75 (p for trend <0.001). Supplemental vitamin E intake was not significantly related to reduced coronary heart disease risk.
Conclusion
The results suggest a reduced incidence of major coronary heart disease events at high supplemental vitamin C intakes. The risk reductions with high vitamin E or carotenoid intakes appear small.
References
Knekt P, Ritz J, Pereira MA, O'Reilly EJ, Augustsson K, Fraser GE, Goldbourt U, Heitmann BL, Hallmans G, Liu S, Pietinen P, Spiegelman D, Stevens J, Virtamo J, Willett WC, Rimm EB, Ascherio A. Antioxidant vitamins and coronary heart disease risk: a pooled analysis of 9 cohorts. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 80 (6): 1508-1520, Dec 2004.
