Nurses’ Health Study coronary heart disease

In the Lyon Diet Heart Study, survivors of myocardial infarctions on a Mediterranean style diet rich in ALA were less likey to experience a second episode (de Lorgeril et al., 1994). These researchers reported that nonfatal myocardial infarctions and total death in subjects on the experimental and control diets were reduced by 75% and 70%, respectively. Fewer nonfatal myocardial infarctions also were reported in subjects consuming an Indo-Mediterranean diet rich in ALA (Singh et al., 2002). The Nurse s Health Study (Albert et al., 2004) also showed that diets rich in ALA reduce the risk of dying from coronary heart disease. The study was a 16-year followup involving approximately 76,000 women. Women on the highest ALA (1.5 g/day) diet had a 21% and 46%, respectively, lower risk of dying from coronary heart disease or sudden cardiac death compared to women on a 0.7 g ALA/day diet. 

A robust database exists from observational studies, clinical studies/trials, animal studies, and in vitro studies demonstrating that fatty acids play a key role in chronic disease risk. Population studies show a positive correlation between coronary heart disease (CHD) risk and dietary SFA (Hu et al., 1997 Keys, 1970 Kromhout et al., 1995) and an inverse association with PUFA (Hu et al., 1997). The Nurses Health Study (Hu et al., 1997) reported an inverse relationship between the PUFA SFA ratio and CHD risk. By all estimates, replacing 5% of energy from SFA with PUFA or MUFA would reduce risk of CHD by -48 and 36%, respectively. The relationship between dietary fat intake and risk of CHD is illustrated in Figure 20.2. Tram fatty... 

Liu S, Stampfer MJ, Hu FB, et al. Whole-grain consumption and risk of coronary heart disease results from the Nurses Health Study. Am J Clin Nutr. 1999 70 412-419. 

The Nurses Health Study (Puett et al. 2008) examined the association of chronic particulate exposures with all-cause mortality, incident nonfatal myocardial infarction, and fatal coronary heart disease (CHD) in a prospective cohort of 66,250 women from the Nurses Health Study in north-eastern US metropolitan areas. In an age- and season-of-the-year-adjusted models, 10 pg/m increases in 12-month average exposures to PMio were associated with increased all-cause mortality (RR 1.16, 95% Cl 1.05-1.28) and fatal CHD (1.43, 95% Cl 1.10-1.86). 

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