LYCOPENE AND MYOCARDIAL-INFARCTION RISK IN THE EURAMIC STUDY

A multicenter case-control study was conducted to evaluate the relatio ns between antioxidant status assessed by biomarkers and acute myocard ial infarction. Incidence cases and frequency matched controls were re cruited from 10 European countries to maximize the variance in exposur e within the study. Adipose tissue needle aspiration biopsies were tak en shortly after the infarction and analyzed for levels of carotenoids and tocopherols. An examination of colinearity including all covariat es and the three carotenoids, alpha-carotene, p-carotene, and lycopene , showed that the variables were sufficiently independent to model sim ultaneously. When examined singularly, each of the carotenoids appeare d to be protective. Upon simultaneous analyses of the carotenoids, how ever, using conditional logistic regression models that controlled for age, body mass index, socioeconomic status, smoking, hypertension, an d maternal and paternal history of disease, lycopene remained independ ently protective, with an odds ratio of 0.52 for the contrast of the 1 0th and 90th percentiles (95% confidence interval 0.33-0.82, rho = 0.0 05). The associations for alpha- and beta-carotene were largely elimin ated. We conclude that lycopene, or some substance highly correlated w hich is in a common food source, may contribute to the protective effe ct of Vegetable consumption on myocardial infarction risk.