The EPIC-Norfolk Study
Dietary intake of folate equivalents and risk of myocardial infarction in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC)--Potsdam study.
Public Health Nutrition 2006 ; 9: 465-71.
Drogan D, Klipstein-Grobusch K, Dierkes J, Weikert C, and Boeing H
DOI : 10.1079/phn2005863
PubMed ID : 16870018
PMCID :
Abstract
To assess the relationship between intake of dietary folate equivalents and risk of myocardial infarction in a German cohort.
Intake of dietary folate equivalents was assessed by a validated food-frequency questionnaire. Cox proportional hazard models were used to evaluate the association between intake of dietary folate equivalents and risk of myocardial infarction.
The European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC)-Potsdam cohort, Germany.
Subjects were 22,245 apparently healthy non-users of vitamin supplements aged 35-64 years.
During 4.6 years of follow-up, 129 incident cases of myocardial infarction were identified. Compared with intake below the median (103 microg), higher intake of dietary folate equivalents was associated with a multivariate-adjusted hazard ratio (HR) of 0.57 (95% confidence interval (CI) 0.36-0.91). The inverse association of folate intake and myocardial infarction risk was stronger in participants with an ethanol intake equal to or above the sex-specific median (HR=0.37, 95% CI 0.18-0.79) and attenuated in those with a low ethanol intake (HR=0.67, 95% CI 0.37-1.22).
An increased intake of dietary folate equivalents was observed to be associated with decreased risk of myocardial infarction in a German study population, pointing towards the importance of folate intake with respect to primary prevention of myocardial infarction.