Essi Hantikainen1, Marie Löf2, Alessandra Grotta3, Ylva Trolle Lagerros4, Mauro Serafini5, Rino Bellocco6, Elisabete Weiderpass7. 1. Department of Statistics and Quantitative Methods, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy. 2. Department of Biosciences and Nutrition, Karolinska Institutet, Huddinge, Sweden. 3. Department of Public Health Sciences, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden; Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. 4. Obesity Center, Academic Specialist Center, Stockholm Health Services, Stockholm, Sweden; Department of Medicine, Clinical Epidemiology Unit T2, Karolinska University Hospital, Stockholm, Sweden. 5. Functional Food and Metabolic Stress Prevention Laboratory, Faculty of BioSciences and Technology for Food, Agriculture and Environment, University of Teramo, Teramo, Italy. 6. Department of Statistics and Quantitative Methods, University of Milano-Bicocca, Milan, Italy; Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden. 7. International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), World Health Organization (WHO), Lyon, France. Electronic address: WeiderpassE@iarc.fr.
Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Consumption of antioxidant-rich foods has been associated with a reduced risk for stroke. However, antioxidant supplementation is not recommended owing to controversial findings reported in clinical trials. The aim of this study was to better understand the effect of dietary antioxidants by investigating the effect of dietary non-enzymatic antioxidant capacity (NEAC), reflecting the antioxidant potential of the whole diet, on the risk for stroke. METHODS: In the Women's Lifestyle and Health Cohort, 45 882 women 30 to 49 y of age and free from cardiovascular diseases were followed through record linkages from 1991 to 2012. Dietary NEAC was assessed by a validated food frequency questionnaire collected at baseline and categorized into quintiles. Multivariable Cox proportional hazard regression models were fitted to estimate hazard ratios with 95% confidence intervals for overall stroke and ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke separately. RESULTS: During a mean follow-up time of 20.2 y, we detected 871 incidence cases of stroke (516 ischemic, 296 hemorrhagic, and 59 unspecified strokes). After adjusting for potential confounders, we did not find any association between dietary NEAC and stroke, either overall, or ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke (Ptrend > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Higher dietary NEAC was not associated with any type of stroke in young and middle-aged Swedish women.
OBJECTIVE: Consumption of antioxidant-rich foods has been associated with a reduced risk for stroke. However, antioxidant supplementation is not recommended owing to controversial findings reported in clinical trials. The aim of this study was to better understand the effect of dietary antioxidants by investigating the effect of dietary non-enzymatic antioxidant capacity (NEAC), reflecting the antioxidant potential of the whole diet, on the risk for stroke. METHODS: In the Women's Lifestyle and Health Cohort, 45 882 women 30 to 49 y of age and free from cardiovascular diseases were followed through record linkages from 1991 to 2012. Dietary NEAC was assessed by a validated food frequency questionnaire collected at baseline and categorized into quintiles. Multivariable Cox proportional hazard regression models were fitted to estimate hazard ratios with 95% confidence intervals for overall stroke and ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke separately. RESULTS: During a mean follow-up time of 20.2 y, we detected 871 incidence cases of stroke (516 ischemic, 296 hemorrhagic, and 59 unspecifiedstrokes). After adjusting for potential confounders, we did not find any association between dietary NEAC and stroke, either overall, or ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke (Ptrend > 0.05). CONCLUSION: Higher dietary NEAC was not associated with any type of stroke in young and middle-aged Swedish women.