| Abstract |
BACKGROUND: Dietary flavonoids may protect against cardiovascular disease,
but evidence is still conflicting. Tea is the major source of flavonoids
in Western populations. OBJECTIVE: The association of tea and flavonoid
intake with incident myocardial infarction was examined in the general
Dutch population. DESIGN: A longitudinal analysis was performed with the
use of data from the Rotterdam Study-a population-based study of men and
women aged >or=55 y. Diet was assessed at baseline (1990-1993) with a
validated semiquantitative food-frequency questionnaire. The analysis
included 4807 subjects with no history of myocardial infarction, who were
followed until 31 December 1997. Data were analyzed in a Cox regression
model, with adjustment for age, sex, body mass index, smoking status,
pack-years of cigarette smoking, education level, and daily intakes of
alcohol, coffee, polyunsaturated fat, saturated fat, fiber, vitamin E, and
total energy. RESULTS: During 5.6 y of follow-up, a total of 146 first
myocardial infarctions occurred, 30 of which were fatal. The relative risk
(RR) of incident myocardial infarction was lower in tea drinkers with a
daily intake >375 mL (RR: 0.57; 95% CI: 0.33, 0.98) than in nontea
drinkers. The inverse association with tea drinking was stronger for fatal
events (0.30; 0.09, 0.94) than for nonfatal events (0.68; 0.37, 1.26). The
intake of dietary flavonoids (quercetin + kaempferol + myricetin) was
significantly inversely associated only with fatal myocardial infarction
(0.35; 0.13, 0.98) in upper compared with lower tertiles of intake.
CONCLUSIONS: An increased intake of tea and flavonoids may contribute to
the primary prevention of ischemic heart disease. |