title: [Dietary habits and cardiovascular disease: the experience of EPIC Italian collaboration].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  to report and evaluate the evidence produced by the EPIC Italian collaboration (EPICOR Project) on the dietary determinants of cardiovascular diseases in Italy.
  
  
  METHODS
  prospective study carried out in a large Italian population, composed by cohorts recruited in Northern, Central and Southern Italy.
  
  
  METHODS
  data on dietary habits collected at the baseline observation through standardised questionnaires on 47,749 free-living adults at the time of the recruitment of the study (1993-1998).
  
  
  METHODS
  major coronary and cerebrovascular events (acute coronary syndrome, PTCA, CABG, ischemic and haemorrhagic stroke, TEA of supraortic vessels) identified at follow-up. The longitudinal analyses here reported have measured risks through the use of multivariate Cox regression models, adjusted for potential confounders.
  
  
  RESULTS
  the longitudinal analyses of EPICOR indicate that Mediterranean-oriented dietary habits, measured through specific indicators and the consumption of various typical food, are able to reduce coronary and cerebrovascular risks, and that this protection is possible even nowadays, although many changes in diet have occurred in the last decades in Italy. Habitual consumption of plant origin products, including all foods with low glycemic index, is an advantage for cardiovascular risk.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  the EPICOR Project is the largest, long-lasting Italian study on the relationship between diet and cardiovascular diseases. It is also the study with the greater number of observed variables. Its results point out the importance to support preventive programmes and industrial policies able to favour a dietary style inspired to the Italian Mediterranean tradition.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di medicina clinica e chirurgia, Università degli Studi di Napoli "Federico II".
authors.forename: Amalia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mattiello
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di salute mentale e fisica e medicina preventiva, Seconda Università di Napoli.
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Chiodini
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di medicina clinica e chirurgia, Università degli Studi di Napoli "Federico II".
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Santucci de Magistris
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di medicina preventiva e predittiva, Unità di epidemiologia e prevenzione, Fondazione IRCSS - Istituto nazionale dei tumori, Milano.
authors.forename: Vittorio
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Krogh
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di medicina preventiva e predittiva, Unità di epidemiologia e prevenzione, Fondazione IRCSS - Istituto nazionale dei tumori, Milano.
authors.forename: Sara
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Grioni
authors.affiliation: SC di epidemiologia dei tumori, AOU Città della salute e della scienza, Centro di Riferimento per l'Epidemiologia e la Prevenzione Oncologica in Piemonte (CPO), Torino.|Human Genetics Foundation (HuGeF), Torino.
authors.forename: Francesca
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fasanelli
authors.affiliation: Human Genetics Foundation (HuGeF), Torino.|School of Public Health, Imperial College, Londra.
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vineis
authors.affiliation: SC epidemiologia molecolare e nutrizionale, Istituto per lo studio e prevenzione oncologica (ISPO), Firenze.
authors.forename: Calogero
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Saieva
authors.affiliation: SC epidemiologia molecolare e nutrizionale, Istituto per lo studio e prevenzione oncologica (ISPO), Firenze.
authors.forename: Benedetta
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bendinelli
authors.affiliation: Registro dei tumori, Dipartimento di prevenzione medica, Azienda sanitaria provinciale (ASP) Ragusa.
authors.forename: Graziella
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Frasca
authors.affiliation: Registro dei tumori, Dipartimento di prevenzione medica, Azienda sanitaria provinciale (ASP) Ragusa.
authors.forename: Maria Concetta
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Giurdanella
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di medicina clinica e chirurgia, Università degli Studi di Napoli "Federico II". spanico@unina.it.
authors.forename: Salvatore
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Panico
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000886:Anthropometry; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002561:Cerebrovascular Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology*; D004034:Diet Surveys; D038441:Diet, Mediterranean / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005062:European Union; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D012955:Societies, Medical