Abstract
Background
Whether intakes of dietary fat and cholesterol are associated with risk of stroke
remain unclear. We examined the associations between intakes of total fat, specific
types of fat, and cholesterol and risk of stroke in a prospective cohort of women.
Methods
The study population consisted of 34,670 women, aged 49–83 years, in the Swedish Mammography
Cohort who were free of cardiovascular disease and completed a food-frequency questionnaire
in 1997. Cox proportional hazard regression models were used to estimate relative
risks (RR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI).
Results
During a mean follow-up of 10.4 years, we ascertained 1680 stroke events, including
1310 cerebral infarctions, 233 hemorrhagic strokes, and 137 unspecified strokes. After
adjustment for other stroke risk factors, intake of long-chain omega-3 polyunsaturated
fatty acids (PUFA) was inversely associated with risk of total stroke. The multivariable
RR of total stroke for the highest compared with the lowest quintile of long-chain
omega-3 PUFA intake was 0.84 (95% CI, 0.72–0.99; P for trend = 0.04). Dietary cholesterol was positively associated with risk of total stroke (highest
versus lowest quintile: RR = 1.20; 95% CI, 1.00–1.44; P for trend = 0.01) and cerebral infarction (corresponding RR = 1.29; 95% CI, 1.05–1.58; P for trend = 0.004). Total fat, saturated fat, monounsaturated fat, polyunsaturated fat, α-linolenic
acid, and omega-6 PUFA intakes were not associated with stroke.
Conclusions
These findings suggest that intake of long-chain omega-3 PUFAs is inversely associated
with risk of stroke, whereas dietary cholesterol is positively associated with risk.
Keywords
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: January 24, 2012
Accepted:
December 31,
2011
Received in revised form:
December 21,
2011
Received:
September 23,
2011
Identification
Copyright
© 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
