Am. Fehily et al., DIETARY INDEXES OF ATHEROGENICITY AND THROMBOGENICITY AND ISCHEMIC-HEART-DISEASE RISK - THE CAERPHILLY PROSPECTIVE-STUDY, British Journal of Nutrition, 71(2), 1994, pp. 249-257
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.