RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN EATING PATTERNS MEETING RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUBSEQUENT MORTALITY IN 20 YEARS

Objective, Study of the relationships of conformity to dietary recomme ndations and subsequent rates of total mortality and mortality from sp ecific causes. Design: Prospective investigation of risk factors relat ed to cardiovascular disease. Setting: Two Italian rural cohorts of th e Seven Countries Study. Subjects: The study populations are defined s amples from two villages, Crevalcore in Northern Italy and Montegiorgi o in Central Italy. The examination in 1965, which included an individ ual dietary survey, involved 1538 men aged 45-64 years. The 20-year fo llow-up system was able to track every participant. Results: Conformit y to recommended levels of intake of carbohydrates (55-75% of calories ) is associated to the relative risks: 0.84 (0.68-1.03) for total mort ality, 0.73 (0.50-1.07) for cancer mortality, 1.34 (0.90-1.99) for cor onary heart disease mortality. Relative risks for other nutrients are reported. C Conclusions: Overall, recommended levels of intake of macr onutrients are associated with lower total mortality, but are not equa lly appropriate for specific causes of death, cancer and coronary hear t disease. Diet-associated differences in mortality persisted after ad justment for confounding by age, smoking habit and physical activity. In this population, intakes meeting the principal recommendations (tot al carbohydrate and total fat) seem to involve automatically meeting t he other recommendations. Sponsorship: Research partly supported by th e project 'ACRO-clinical uses of Oncological Research' (contract 93.02 289.PF39) and by the project 'FATMA-Risk Factors and Disease Control' (contract 93.00773.PF41) of the Italian National Research Council, CNR .