Consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages in relation to stroke: a case–control study

Consumo de alimentos y ataque cerebrovascular isquémico agudo. Estudio multicéntrico de casos y controles

Introducción. La dieta es uno de los factores asociados al ataque cerebrovascular (ACV) con un impacto particular sobre las diferentes poblaciones.Objetivo. Evaluar la asociación entre el consumo de alimentos y el ACV isquémico en una muestra de pacientes adultos en Colombia.Materiales y métodos. Estudio de casos (n=357) y controles (n=348) con casos incidentes de ACV isquémico agudo. El consumo de alimentos fue evaluado mediante un cuestionario de frecuencia de consumo. Se calculó el odds ratio (OR) con sus respectivos intervalos de confianza (IC) del 95% mediante modelos de regresión logística.Resultados. Se identificaron 10 alimentos asociados con el ACV isquémico agudo. Según la escala propuesta (número de modelos con asociación significativa), un solo alimento se ubicó en la categoría de evidencia fuerte de asociación (gallina), cuatro en categoría débil (chocolate, harina de trigo, manteca, aguacate) y cinco en la categoría sospechosa (pollo con piel, pollo sin piel, arroz, arracacha, yuca).Conclusiones. El consumo de chocolate de mesa (preparado en leche con una composición de 70% azúcar y 30% cacao), aguacate y pollo sin piel podría sugerir un efecto protector, mientras la alta ingesta de harina de trigo, gallina, manteca, atún en agua, arroz, pollo con piel, arracacha y yuca podría aumentar el riesgo de presentar ACV isquémico agudo.

Association between dietary pattern and risk of cardiovascular disease among adults in the Middle East and North Africa region: a systematic review

OBJECTIVE

This paper reviews the evidence related to the association of dietary pattern with coronary heart disease (CHD), strokes, and the associated risk factors among adults in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.

METHODS

A systematic review of published articles between January 1990 and March 2015 was conducted using Pro-Quest Public Health, MEDLINE, and Google Scholar. The term 'dietary pattern' refers to data derived from dietary pattern analyses and individual food component analyses.

RESULTS

The search identified 15 studies. The available data in the MENA region showed that Western dietary pattern has been predominant among adults with fewer adherences to the traditional diet, such as the Mediterranean diet. The Western dietary pattern was found to be associated with an increased risk of dyslipidaemia, diabetes, metabolic syndrome (MetS), body mass index (BMI), and hypertension. The Mediterranean diet, labelled in two studies as 'the traditional Lebanese diet', was negatively associated with BMI, waist circumference (WC), and the risk of diabetes, while one study found no association between the Mediterranean diet and MetS. Two randomised controlled trials conducted in Iran demonstrated the effect of the dietary approach to stop hypertension (DASH) in reducing metabolic risk among patients with diabetes and MetS. Likewise, the consumption of dairy products was associated with decreased blood pressure and WC, while the intake of whole grains was associated with reduced WC. In addition, the high consumption of black tea was found to be associated with decreased serum lipids. The intake of fish, vegetable oils, and tea had a protective effect on CHD, whereas the intake of full-fat yoghurt and hydrogenated fats was associated with an increased risk of CHD.

CONCLUSION

There appears to be a significant association of Western dietary pattern with the increased risk of CHD, strokes, and associated risk factors among adults in the MENA region. Conversely, increased adherence to Mediterranean and/or DASH dietary patterns or their individual food components is associated with a decreased risk of CHD and the associated risk factors. Therefore, increasing awareness of the high burden of CHD and the associated risk factors is crucial, as well as the need for nutrition education programs to improve the knowledge among the MENA population regarding healthy diets and diet-related diseases.

Carbohydrate Intake, Glycemic Index, Glycemic Load, and Stroke

The objective of this study was to investigate associations between carbohydrate intake/glycemic index (GI)/glycemic load (GL) and stroke risk. A literature search of MEDLINE, Embase, Web of Science, and CBM databases was performed to retrieve eligible studies published up to March 2014. Pooled relative risks (RRs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to evaluate the strength of this association. Publication bias was assessed by the Egger’s regression asymmetry test and Begg’s rank correlation test with Begg’s funnel plot. All analyses were conducted using software STATA 12.0 (StataCorp LP, College Station, TX) and SAS version 9.1 (SAS Institute Inc, Cary, NC). We identified 7 prospective studies that met the inclusion criteria and processed data from cohort studies to update available evidence. There were 25 independent estimates and 225 000 participants free of diabetes from 6 different countries; 3046 stroke events were included; and the follow-up range was 5 to 18 years. High GI was not associated with risk of stroke events (pooled RR = 1.10; 95% CI: 0.99-1.21); GL was a risk factor for stroke (pooled RR = 1.19; 95% CI: 1.05-1.36). There was no significant association between high carbohydrate intake and stroke risk (RR = 1.12; 95% CI: 0.93-1.35). A daily high GL diet is the risk factor of stroke event, and further researches need to verify the meta-analyses results and study associated mechanisms.