Ho N Nguyen1, Naoko Miyagawa2, Katsuyuki Miura3, Nagako Okuda4, Katsushi Yoshita5, Yusuke Arai6, Hideaki Nakagawa7, Kiyomi Sakata8, Toshiyuki Ojima9, Aya Kadota10, Naoyuki Takashima1, Akira Fujiyoshi1, Takayoshi Ohkubo11, Robert D Abbott10, Tomonori Okamura12, Akira Okayama13, Hirotsugu Ueshima3. 1. Department of Public Health, Shiga University of Medical Science, Shiga, Japan. 2. Department of Public Health, Shiga University of Medical Science, Shiga, Japan. Electronic address: naocom@belle.shiga-med.ac.jp. 3. Department of Public Health, Shiga University of Medical Science, Shiga, Japan; Center for Epidemiologic Research in Asia, Shiga University of Medical Science, Shiga, Japan. 4. Department of Health and Nutrition, University of Human Arts and Sciences, Saitama, Japan. 5. Department of Food Science and Nutrition, Osaka City University, Osaka, Japan. 6. Department of Nutrition, Chiba Prefectural University of Health Sciences, Chiba, Japan. 7. Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Kanazawa Medical University, Ishikawa, Japan. 8. Department of Hygiene and Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, Iwate Medical University, Iwate, Japan. 9. Department of Community Health and Preventive Medicine, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Shizuoka, Japan. 10. Center for Epidemiologic Research in Asia, Shiga University of Medical Science, Shiga, Japan. 11. Department of Hygiene and Public Health, Teikyo University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan. 12. Department of Preventive Medicine and Public Health, School of Medicine, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan. 13. Research Institute of Strategy for Prevention, Tokyo, Japan.
Abstract
BACKGROUND & AIM: Although dietary soy intake is linked with health benefits, a relation with stroke has not been established. The present study examined the association between the intake of tofu, the richest source of dietary soy, with stroke mortality in a general population cohort of Japanese men and women. METHODS: Data comprise 9244 Japanese enrolled in the National Nutrition Survey of Japan in 1980. Participants were free of cardiovascular disease and followed for 24 years. Dietary intake was estimated from 3-day weighed food records. Multivariable Cox regression models were used to estimate hazard ratios across levels of tofu intake. RESULTS: During follow-up, there were 417 deaths due to stroke (88 cerebral hemorrhage [CH], 245 cerebral infarction [CI], and 84 of other subtypes). Among all men, and in women aged 65 years or more, tofu intake was unrelated to each form of stroke. For young women (<65 years of age), a significantly lower risk of CH in the top versus bottom quartile of tofu intake was observed (Multivariable-adjusted HR = 0.26, 95% CI: 0.08-0.85). CONCLUSIONS: In this large prospective study with long follow-up of Japanese men and women, consumption of tofu was unrelated to the risk of stroke except for CH in women <65 years of age. Whether the association in younger women is real or due to chance alone warrants further study.
BACKGROUND & AIM: Although dietary soy intake is linked with health benefits, a relation with stroke has not been established. The present study examined the association between the intake of tofu, the richest source of dietary soy, with stroke mortality in a general population cohort of Japanese men and women. METHODS: Data comprise 9244 Japanese enrolled in the National Nutrition Survey of Japan in 1980. Participants were free of cardiovascular disease and followed for 24 years. Dietary intake was estimated from 3-day weighed food records. Multivariable Cox regression models were used to estimate hazard ratios across levels of tofu intake. RESULTS: During follow-up, there were 417 deaths due to stroke (88 cerebral hemorrhage [CH], 245 cerebral infarction [CI], and 84 of other subtypes). Among all men, and in women aged 65 years or more, tofu intake was unrelated to each form of stroke. For young women (<65 years of age), a significantly lower risk of CH in the top versus bottom quartile of tofu intake was observed (Multivariable-adjusted HR = 0.26, 95% CI: 0.08-0.85). CONCLUSIONS: In this large prospective study with long follow-up of Japanese men and women, consumption of tofu was unrelated to the risk of stroke except for CH in women <65 years of age. Whether the association in younger women is real or due to chance alone warrants further study.