DIETARY INDEXES OF ATHEROGENICITY AND THROMBOGENICITY AND ISCHEMIC-HEART-DISEASE RISK - THE CAERPHILLY PROSPECTIVE-STUDY

The aim of the study was to investigate whether proposed dietary score s of atherogenicity and thrombogenicity predict ischaemic heart diseas e (MD) risk in a community sample of men aged 45-59 years. Dietary sco res were calculated from consumption of various fatty acids, estimated from 7 d weighed intake data obtained from 665 men. Investigation of associations with blood lipids, lipoproteins and haemostatic factors r evealed positive associations with low-density-lipoprotein cholesterol (P < 0.05) and white cell count (P < 0.05), and a negative associatio n with antithrombin III (P = 0.05), after taking into account the effe cts of age, body mass index and smoking. During a 5-year follow-up per iod, there were twenty-one new IHD events among the 512 men in whom th ere was no evidence of IHD at baseline. Men with higher atherogenicity or thrombogenicity scores at baseline tended to have a higher risk of subsequent IHD. The trend was consistent but not statistically signif icant. A similar trend was observed for total saturates, and an invers e trend for total polyunsaturates, expressed as a percentage of total fatty acids. It is, therefore, concluded that proposed dietary indices of atherogenicity and thrombogenicity may be weak predictors of IHD r isk, but that these scores are unlikely to be substantially better pre dictors than more simple approaches such as intakes of total saturates . To enhance the predictive ability, more complex formulas which take into account other dietary factors as well as fatty acid intakes would probably be required.