Total Antioxidant Capacity of Diet and Risk of Heart Failure: A Population-based Prospective Cohort of Women
In this study, total antioxidant capacity was measured to determine any association between dietary antioxidants and heart failure. Researchers found that a healthful diet that is high in antioxidants may help prevent heart failure.
Heart failure has many causes, including structural and functional cardiac abnormalities, elevated blood pressure, diabetes mellitus, and ischemic heart disease.(1) Recent research has suggested that oxidative stress also may increase the risk of heart failure.(2, 3, 4) High concentrations of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species may promote cardiovascular disease through oxidation of lipids, damage to the endothelium, and decrease in the bioavailability of the vasodilator nitric oxide.(5, 6, 7, 8)
Abstract
Background
Few studies have investigated the association between individual antioxidants and risk of heart failure. No previous study has investigated the role of all antioxidants present in diet in relation to heart failure. The aim of this study was to assess the association between total antioxidant capacity of diet, which reflects all of the antioxidant compounds in food and the interactions between them, and the incidence of heart failure among middle-aged and elderly women.
Methods
In September 1997, 33,713 women (aged 49-83 years) from the Swedish Mammography Cohort completed a food-frequency questionnaire. Estimates of dietary total antioxidant capacity were based on the Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity assay measurements of foods. Women were followed for incident heart failure (hospitalization or mortality of heart failure as the primary cause) through December 2009 using administrative health registries. Cox proportional hazard models were used to calculate relative risks and 95% confidence intervals.
Results
During 11.3 years of follow-up (394,059 person-years), we identified 894 incident cases of heart failure. Total antioxidant capacity of diet was inversely associated with heart failure (the multivariable-adjusted relative risk in the highest quintile compared with the lowest was 0.58 [95% confidence interval, 0.47-0.72; P for trend<.001]). The crude incidence rate was 18/10,000 person-years in the highest quintile versus 34/10,000 person-years in the lowest quintile.
Conclusions
The total antioxidant capacity of diet, an estimate reflecting all antioxidants in diet, was associated with lower risk of heart failure. These results indicate that a healthful diet high in antioxidants may help prevent heart failure.
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– Susanne Rautiainen, PhDemail address, Emily B. Levitan, ScD, Murray A. Mittleman, MD, PhD, Alicja Wolk, DrMedSci
This article originally appeared in the June 2013 issue of The American Journal of Medicine.
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