A homocysteine metabolism-related dietary pattern and the risk of coronary heart disease in two independent German study populations

• Published in: The Journal of nutrition Vol. 135; no. 8; pp. 1981 - 1988
• Main Authors: WEIKERT, Cornelia, HOFFMANN, Kurt, DIERKES, Jutta, ZYRIAX, Birgit-Christiane, KLIPSTEIN-GROBUSCH, Kerstin, SCHULZE, Matthias B, JUNG, Roman, WINDLER, Eberhard, BOEING, Heiner
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bethesda, MD American Society for Nutritional Sciences 01.08.2005
• Subjects: Aged; Biological and medical sciences; Body Mass Index; Case-Control Studies; Coronary Disease - epidemiology; Diet; Feeding. Feeding behavior; Female; Folic Acid - blood; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Germany - epidemiology; Homocysteine - blood; Humans; Middle Aged; Multivariate Analysis; Olea; Risk Factors; Solanum tuberosum; Vertebrates: anatomy and physiology, studies on body, several organs or systems; Vitaceae; Vitamin B 12 - blood; Germany; homocysteine; Nutrition; Cardiovascular disease; Risk; B-Vitamins; Metabolism; Coronary heart disease; Folic acid; Folate; Feeding; Micronutrient; vitamin B-12; Homocystein; Risk factor; Population; nutrition . folate
• ISSN: 0022-3166; 1541-6100
• DOI: 10.1093/jn/135.8.1981

A biomarker profile of high folate and vitamin B-12 and low plasma homocysteine concentrations reduces the risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) and may be linked to diet. The objectives of the present study were to identify a food pattern related to these biomarkers and to examine its association with CHD risk. Dietary patterns related to biomarker plasma concentrations were constructed from data obtained in the Coronary Risk Factors for Atherosclerosis in Women (CORA) Study (200 cases; 255 controls) using the reduced rank regression statistical method. Risks for CHD with relation to the identified pattern were estimated in the CORA study and in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC)-Potsdam Study with 157 cases of incident myocardial infarction among 26,795 participants. In these 2 German study populations, whole-grain bread, fresh fruit, olive oil, mushrooms, cruciferous vegetables, wine, and nuts contributed the most positively and fried potatoes the most negatively to a dietary pattern that was directly associated with both plasma folate and vitamin B-12 concentrations, but inversely with plasma homocysteine. Multivariate-adjusted relative risks for CHD across increasing quintiles of the food pattern score were 1.0, 0.55, 0.52, 0.58, 0.39 (P for trend = 0.05) in the case-control sample and 1.0, 0.95, 0.75, 0.56, 0.72 (P for trend = 0.041) in the prospective study. The combination of a high intake of whole-grain bread, fresh fruit, olive oil, mushrooms, cruciferous vegetables, wine, and nuts with a low intake of fried potatoes was associated with a favorable biomarker profile of homocysteine metabolism and reduced risk of CHD.