Arginine intake and risk of coronary heart disease mortality in elderly men

From experimental studies, the hypothesis is derived that the amino acid ar ginine, the precursor of NO, could restore the impaired endothelial functio n and increased platelet activation observed in atherosclerosis. We investi gated whether dietary intake of arginine is associated with reduced coronar y heart disease risk in elderly persons. The study population consisted of 806 men aged 64 to 84 years at baseline who participated in the Zutphen Eld erly Study, a population-based cohort followed up for 10 years. Information about habitual food consumption was collected by use of the cross-check di etary history method. Ninety (11.2%) of the 806 men died from coronary hear t disease. Mean+/-SD baseline arginine intake was 4.35+/-1.07 g/d. Meat was the main source of arginine intake (37.1%), followed by bread (13.1%) and milk and milk products (12.1%). Arginine intake was not associated with cor onary heart disease mortality. After adjustment for age, the relative risk (RR) for the medium tertile of arginine intake was 0.72 (95% CI 0.44 to 1.1 8), and the RR for the highest tertile was 0.71 (95% CI 0.43 to 1.19, P for trend=0.19) compared with the lowest tertile of arginine intake. After add itional adjustment for history of coronary heart disease and diabetes melli tus, energy intake, body mass index, smoking habit, physical activity, and other relevant dietary and biological risk factors, the RR was 1.86 (95%; C I 1.06 to 3.27) for the medium intake and 1.56 (95% CI 0.83 to 2.93) for th e highest intake (P for trend=0.17). These results do not support the hypot hesis that dietary arginine intake lowers the risk of coronary heart diseas e mortality.