Dietary and adipose tissue gamma-tocopherol and risk of myocardial infarction.
BACKGROUND
Gamma-tocopherol, the most abundant form of dietary vitamin E, may lower the risk of coronary heart disease.


METHODS
We investigated whether dietary and adipose tissue gamma-tocopherol are associated with myocardial infarction (MI) in 475 survivors of a first MI and 479 controls from a population-based study carried out between 1994 and 1998 in Costa Rica. Dietary intake was assessed with a validated food-frequency questionnaire and an adipose tissue sample. Conditional logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI).


RESULTS
Subjects in the highest quintile of dietary gamma-tocopherol had a lower risk of MI compared with those in the lowest quintile (OR = 0.76; 95% CI = 0.50-1.17, P = 0.02 for trend). This trend was no longer statistically substantial in multivariate analysis (P = 0.44). A weak association was found for adipose tissue gamma-tocopherol in univariate (OR = 1.46; 95% CI = 0.94-2.27) and multivariate (OR = 1.31; 95% CI = 0.62-2.76) models. A substantial inverse association with MI was found for total dietary vitamin E whether supplement users were included or excluded (P = 0.01 and 0.05 for trend, respectively).


CONCLUSIONS
These data suggest that gamma-tocopherol does not protect against nonfatal MI.
El-Sohemy
Ahmed
A
Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.
Baylin
Ana
A
Spiegelman
Donna
D
Ascherio
Alberto
A
Campos
Hannia
H
D000273:Adipose Tissue / Q000737:chemistry*; D000975:Antioxidants / Q000032:analysis*; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003364:Costa Rica / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D005504:Food Analysis; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000517:prevention & control; D016017:Odds Ratio; D024504:gamma-Tocopherol / Q000032:analysis*
D000975:Antioxidants; D024504:gamma-Tocopherol