Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

Dietary fatty acids, macronutrient substitutions, food sources and incidence of coronary heart disease: Findings from the EPIC-CVD case-cohort study across nine european countries

Steur, M. ; Ericson, Ulrika LU ; Melander, Olle LU orcid and Forouhi, Nita G. (2021) In Journal of the American Heart Association 10(23).
Abstract
BACKGROUND: There is controversy about associations between total dietary fatty acids, their classes (saturated fatty acids [SFAs], monounsaturated fatty acids, and polyunsaturated fatty acids), and risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). Specifically, the relevance of food sources of SFAs to CHD associations is uncertain. METHODS AND RESULTS: We conducted a case-cohort study involving 10 529 incident CHD cases and a random subcohort of 16 730 adults selected from a cohort of 385 747 participants in 9 countries of the EPIC (European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition) study. We estimated multivariable adjusted country-specific hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% CIs per 5% of energy intake from dietary fatty acids, with and without... (More)
BACKGROUND: There is controversy about associations between total dietary fatty acids, their classes (saturated fatty acids [SFAs], monounsaturated fatty acids, and polyunsaturated fatty acids), and risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). Specifically, the relevance of food sources of SFAs to CHD associations is uncertain. METHODS AND RESULTS: We conducted a case-cohort study involving 10 529 incident CHD cases and a random subcohort of 16 730 adults selected from a cohort of 385 747 participants in 9 countries of the EPIC (European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition) study. We estimated multivariable adjusted country-specific hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% CIs per 5% of energy intake from dietary fatty acids, with and without isocaloric macronutrient substitutions, using Prentice-weighted Cox regression models and pooled results using random-effects meta-analysis. We found no evidence for associations of the consumption of total or fatty acid classes with CHD, regardless of macronutrient substitutions. In analyses considering food sources, CHD incidence was lower per 1% higher energy intake of SFAs from yogurt (HR, 0.93 [95% CI, 0.88– 0.99]), cheese (HR, 0.98 [95% CI, 0.96–1.00]), and fish (HR, 0.87 [95% CI, 0.75–1.00]), but higher for SFAs from red meat (HR, 1.07 [95% CI, 1.02–1.12]) and butter (HR, 1.02 [95% CI, 1.00–1.04]). CONCLUSIONS: This observational study found no strong associations of total fatty acids, SFAs, monounsaturated fatty acids, and polyunsaturated fatty acids, with incident CHD. By contrast, we found associations of SFAs with CHD in opposite direc-tions dependent on the food source. These findings should be further confirmed, but support public health recommendations to consider food sources alongside the macronutrients they contain, and suggest the importance of the overall food matrix. © 2021 The Authors. Published on behalf of the American Heart Association, Inc., by Wiley. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; and
author collaboration
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Coronary heart disease, Dietary guidelines, Nutritional epidemiology, Primary prevention, Saturated fat
in
Journal of the American Heart Association
volume
10
issue
23
article number
e019814
publisher
Wiley-Blackwell
external identifiers
  • scopus:85121028397
  • pmid:34796724
ISSN
2047-9980
DOI
10.1161/JAHA.120.019814
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
5bb15fd6-5447-41b7-8bb5-b93719f1530a
date added to LUP
2022-01-26 11:53:26
date last changed
2024-01-05 23:25:30
@article{5bb15fd6-5447-41b7-8bb5-b93719f1530a,
  abstract     = {{BACKGROUND: There is controversy about associations between total dietary fatty acids, their classes (saturated fatty acids [SFAs], monounsaturated fatty acids, and polyunsaturated fatty acids), and risk of coronary heart disease (CHD). Specifically, the relevance of food sources of SFAs to CHD associations is uncertain. METHODS AND RESULTS: We conducted a case-cohort study involving 10 529 incident CHD cases and a random subcohort of 16 730 adults selected from a cohort of 385 747 participants in 9 countries of the EPIC (European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition) study. We estimated multivariable adjusted country-specific hazard ratios (HRs) and 95% CIs per 5% of energy intake from dietary fatty acids, with and without isocaloric macronutrient substitutions, using Prentice-weighted Cox regression models and pooled results using random-effects meta-analysis. We found no evidence for associations of the consumption of total or fatty acid classes with CHD, regardless of macronutrient substitutions. In analyses considering food sources, CHD incidence was lower per 1% higher energy intake of SFAs from yogurt (HR, 0.93 [95% CI, 0.88– 0.99]), cheese (HR, 0.98 [95% CI, 0.96–1.00]), and fish (HR, 0.87 [95% CI, 0.75–1.00]), but higher for SFAs from red meat (HR, 1.07 [95% CI, 1.02–1.12]) and butter (HR, 1.02 [95% CI, 1.00–1.04]). CONCLUSIONS: This observational study found no strong associations of total fatty acids, SFAs, monounsaturated fatty acids, and polyunsaturated fatty acids, with incident CHD. By contrast, we found associations of SFAs with CHD in opposite direc-tions dependent on the food source. These findings should be further confirmed, but support public health recommendations to consider food sources alongside the macronutrients they contain, and suggest the importance of the overall food matrix. © 2021 The Authors. Published on behalf of the American Heart Association, Inc., by Wiley.}},
  author       = {{Steur, M. and Ericson, Ulrika and Melander, Olle and Forouhi, Nita G.}},
  issn         = {{2047-9980}},
  keywords     = {{Coronary heart disease; Dietary guidelines; Nutritional epidemiology; Primary prevention; Saturated fat}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{23}},
  publisher    = {{Wiley-Blackwell}},
  series       = {{Journal of the American Heart Association}},
  title        = {{Dietary fatty acids, macronutrient substitutions, food sources and incidence of coronary heart disease: Findings from the EPIC-CVD case-cohort study across nine european countries}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1161/JAHA.120.019814}},
  doi          = {{10.1161/JAHA.120.019814}},
  volume       = {{10}},
  year         = {{2021}},
}